The Clippers Are Hiding Behind the NBA

Pleading "investigation" is like pleading the Fifth here

I’m just passing along a rumor. Okay, maybe it’s a bit more than a rumor. It’s a sentiment, conveyed.

There’s a perception in the league that NBA commissioner Adam Silver isn’t exactly a neutral party in this NBA investigation of the Los Angeles Clippers. There’s a belief within NBA circles that both sides, the Clippers and the league, have been in communication, and are on something of the same page here. I’m not saying the Clippers will avoid a punishment. I am saying that both sides appear to be working in concert towards putting this scandal in the rearview, and NBA messaging reflects that.

And I would add that statements made at Clipper Media Day would validate that view. It’s bizarre to watch team representatives speak as though the only exonerating evidence can be found in the NBA’s current investigation. It reads like:

Look, I won’t tell you why we’re innocent, but maybe a few months from now, Adam Silver just might!

Meanwhile everyone I talk to around the league believes the Clippers are guilty. I mean, creative people try to come up with possible exonerating scenarios, but, gun to head, everybody outside of maybe Mark Cuban arrives at the same place. The evidence uncovered by Pablo Torre Finds Out is just too damning.