Cluppers look really bad. Their future looks insane.

[ralph_i_el]

Whether or not a team like the Hornets or Pelicans makes money has nothing to do with what team signs Kawhi Leonard because it won't be them and was never going to be them. Teams like that draft an entertaining player every few years (Ball, Williamson) and ride him to sell tickets but are never going to be serious about winning a championship. Their owners are quite happy to go 0-82 because they make 100s of millions every year off of all the NBA's contracts and so long as Silver facilitates that they will pretend to care about what Leonard gets paid under the table but don't. This is only a problem because Torre busted them publicly. To really deal with something like this they would need full, detailed beyond-tax return level financial disclosures from all the players and all the owners. The owners damn sure don't want to be giving out all of that information to the public. Adam Silver works for them, not the other way around.

When they pay a player under the table, they dodge tax payments that would otherwise go to the Hornets and Pelicans.

[Axe]

Ever since leaving the raptors back then, all that matters to kawhi is playing in his hometown while getting $$$ on specific endorsements from ballmer.

frighteningly dumb

[Real Men Wear Green]

They should just keep letting him do this, because it won't work. That's not how championship teams are constructed. We'll just watch him slam his head against a wall endlessly until he learns his lesson and gives up the reins.

If he had the right GM making the decisions? I definitely agree that it's failed so far but that is 40% Leonard being unable to stay healthy and 60% sending the core of the current NBA champions to the Thunder for Paul George. If you hand unlimited resources to someone that is good at picking players they're going to build you a great team.

When they pay a player under the table, they dodge tax payments that would otherwise go to the Hornets and Pelicans.

That's valid, my theories aren't flawless. The minor franchise's that are just rising the gravy train may be ok with whatever the bigger teams are doing to compete with each other.

[Real Men Wear Green]

They should just keep letting him do this, because it won't work. That's not how championship teams are constructed. We'll just watch him slam his head against a wall endlessly until he learns his lesson and gives up the reins.

If he had the right GM making the decisions? I definitely agree that it's failed so far but that is 40% Leonard being unable to stay healthy and 60% sending the core of the current NBA champions to the Thunder for Paul George. If you hand unlimited resources to someone that is good at picking players they're going to build you a great team.

When they pay a player under the table, they dodge tax payments that would otherwise go to the Hornets and Pelicans.

That's valid, my theories aren't flawless. The minor franchise's that are just rising the gravy train may be ok with whatever the bigger teams are doing to compete with each other.

[ImKobe]

You mean like kawai?

Yeah. They were relevant enough of an org to attract multiple stars to their franchise that off-season. People thought the Clippers would be terrible after the CP3 & Blake era and even though they made some bad moves and the Kawhi-PG duo failed, they've still been one of the more relevant teams in the league. I don't see why they couldn't attract more FAs in the future. Nothing will come of the Aspiration bs with Kawhi, Ballmer will get a slap on the wrist aka a huge fine and maybe lose a 2nd round pick.

[beasted]

Practically nobody was saying that at the time and it's extremely, extremely important to note that Kawhi Leonard allegedly said he would only come if they landed George. With hindsight it's atrocious but very few if any people period were saying that at the time.

Yes, at that time, plenty people were totally flabbergasted by the multitude of picks. It's actually those idiots that broke the league with that trade.

Before that, I can't recall any star being worth 4+ first round picks PLUS a young talent. If you can find any transactions before that of that ilk, I'll consider myself wrong.

But PG, Gobert, Mitchell, Bane, Harden... all frighteningly stupid trades. It's impossible to win a trade giving up that many FRPs.

The guy's who are really worth that much simply don't get traded until it's a sign and trade because they were leaving anyway.

[Xiao Yao You]

Shams Charania: Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul is retiring after this season – his 21st campaign in the NBA. Paul is a 12-time All-Star, an 11-time member of All-NBA teams, a selection to the 75 greatest players list, nine-time All-Defense and the 2006 Rookie of the Year.

x.com

[Wally450]

James Harden is absolutely ballin right now. Putting up insane numbers even in the losses.

[Real Men Wear Green]

James Harden is absolutely ballin right now. Putting up insane numbers even in the losses.

I'm still angry over that stupid-ass foul they called on Walsh when Harden stick his leg out. I acknowledge that he's an all-time great offensive player but there's no star whose game I have less respect for.