To set the tone for today’s rant, let me begin with this from St. Augustine of Hippo who lived in the late 4th Century:
“Punishment is justice for the unjust.”
Punishment was handed down by the NBA in the long-festering case of Kawhi Leonard/The LA Clippers/Circumvention of the NBA Salary Cap. I am not going into the details of what was alleged to have happened by Pablo Torre on his podcast; if you need/want to refresh your memory on all that, Google “Pablo Torre Kawhi Leonard Clippers” and you will have your choice of links to that stuff.
After almost a year of investigation by an outside law firm, Adam Silver brought the hammer down on the Clippers and its management team – – and this was the Hammer of Thor and not the little hammer bone in your middle ear.
- Owner Steve Ballmer and team president, Lawrence Frank are suspended for 1 year
- The Clippers as a team is fined $30M – – AND – –
- The Clippers will forfeit 5 first round draft picks.
The first two punishments above can be shrugged off; yes, $30M is a steep fine but the Clippers’ owner is reportedly worth somewhere around $145-155B; so, I think he can pay this fine and still avoid frequenting soup kitchens for his meals.
It’s that third punishment that is stunning. Without first round picks for at least 5 years – – and possibly more if the Clippers have already traded away one of their future picks – – the franchise is hobbled in terms of a “level playing field”. One of the supposed justifications for that harsh measure is that the Clippers are “repeat offenders” in the area of salary cap circumvention with DeAndre Jordan’s contract back in 2015. Assuming that to be the case, a harsh penalty is appropriate.
The interesting thing here is that Kawhi Leonard seemingly skates on the matter. Leonard will be fined $700K. Before you react to that number and say that it is a huge fine, consider that Spotrac.com reports his career earnings at $375,772,011 and that his salary for the upcoming NBA season will be $50,300,000. That means the $700K fine is just a smidge over a drop in the bucket.
The Clippers have vowed to challenge this ruling; I presume that means challenge it in court since I don’t now of any “Court of Appeals” within the NBA that might overturn or reduce this punishment suite. Somehow, I don’t think we have heard nearly the last word on the matter.
Now compare this situation with one that is facing the NFL Commish, Roger Goodell.
- The NBA had an owner who seems to have broken a league rule and has been hammered.
- The NFL has an owner who plead nolo contendere to charges of engaging in prostitution (a minor criminal offense) who has yet to be “punished” by the league.
- The NFL has a player – Josh Jacobs – who is on the Commissioner’s Exempt List because he faces charges of battery and “criminal damage to property.” In the eyes of the law, Jacobs remains innocent.
I think Commish Goodell recognizes that he is in a delicate situation here. Let me suppose that the NFL determines that whatever Jacobs did or did not do violates the league’s Personal Conduct Policy which is not congruent with criminal law. If that turns out to be the case, the standard punishment for Jacobs would be a suspension of some number of games; there are many precedents for that punishment.
When a player is suspended …
- He cannot be in team facilities or team meetings or team practices for the suspension period – AND – he forfeits his pay for that time too.
- If he were suspended for 5 games, he would miss 5 game checks or 29.4% of his yearly salary.
So, why hasn’t Jed York been suspended yet? Seeking sex for pay in a trailer park has to fall under the umbrella of the Personal Conduct Policy and the Commish knows that happened based on the court pleading and the fact that York served 2 days in jail as part of his sentence, [Aside: York was also fined about $1000 in the case; I am confident that the check to pay that fine easily cleared and that the funds are now in the coffers of East Palestine, OH.]
But suspending an owner is not like suspending a player:
- He can’t be in team facilities or in contact with team officials or players during the term of the suspension. Big deal …
- He can’t be in his luxury box for games during the term of the suspension. So sad …
- He does not lose his “salary” because he does not draw a salary from the team.
So, a player suffers “banishment” and loss of salary while an owner suffers “banishment” only. And that is the dilemma that I think is staring Commissioner Goodell in the face about now; if he suspends Jed York, his punishment will shine a spotlight on the fundamentally different levels of pain disbursed to owners and players who run afoul of the dreaded Personal Conduct Policy.
Finally, I began today with words from St. Augustine of Hippo; let me close with this from psychiatrist, Thomas Szasz:
“Punishment is now unfashionable… because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………