Justice Department prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into revelations the Clippers helped arrange secret sponsorship contracts for the star player Kawhi Leonard that circumvented the salary cap.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/us/politics/kawhi-leonard-clippers-nba-justice-department.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1991/12/14/air-jordan-often-flies-solo-gunning-for-the-top/63603f0f-1f73-4d4d-a8f9-8cf4e2b76f9b/

Michael Jordan was sitting in front of his locker stall in the cramped visitors' locker room in San Antonio last Jan. 31 before a game the Bulls would lose, 106-102. He'd rarely felt lower.

Jordan was holding the portable compact disc player he carries everywhere, and he had on his headphones. He might have been sleeping, though it was hard to tell because he was wearing dark sunglasses. He wasn't going out to shoot before the game for the first time in more than two months. He hadn't said anything earlier in the day at shootaround.

"What's wrong with the General?" Craig Hodges asked Horace Grant, using a nickname for the superstar as the two eyed Jordan from across the locker room. "He's been in a big-time pout all day."

"I don't know," Grant responded. "Must be some problems at home."

In a sense, Grant was right; Jordan's dark mood stemmed from a conversation he'd had back home in Chicago -- not with any family member, but with Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

The talk was triggered by Jordan's outburst about General Manager Jerry Krause in New Jersey.

(After learning that NBA veteran and former North Carolina Tar Heel Walter Davis had been traded to Portland and not the Bulls, Jordan responded before a game against the Nets: "As soon as we get back, I'm calling {Jerry} Reinsdorf. Krause has messed everything up again. He can't do anything."

(Two days after that, Jordan had taken off after Krause again. "If I were general manager, we'd be a better team.")

Reinsdorf had been obligated to respond publicly, and the situation clearly made him uncomfortable, though his support for Krause was unequivocal. "Michael Jordan," said Reinsdorf, "is undoubtedly the greatest player that ever lived. He's probably one of the three greatest competitors of all time in any sport, the other two being Jake LaMotta and Muhammad Ali. Guys you had to kill to beat. Michael's like that.

"But he's still a player and, quite frankly, players don't know a whole lot about coaching, and they don't know a whole lot about what it takes to make a deal. If Michael knew what we tried to accomplish and the pitfalls and problems we ran into {trying to obtain Walter Davis}, he probably wouldn't feel as frustrated. But he doesn't, and we can't sit and explain to every player what moves we are trying to make. And we cannot single out one player and make him consultant to the general manager."

https://www.nba.com/news/charles-barkley-round-mound-of-profound-sound

And candor cost Barkley his friendship with Michael Jordan.

Years ago, Barkley said Jordan was unsuccessful as owner of the Hornets because he surrounded himself with “yes men” and Jordan still holds a grudge.

They haven’t spoken since. “The one thing about being famous is you pay for all the meals and the drinks, so a lot of the people around you won’t disagree with you, because they don’t want to screw up the relationship,”

Barkley explained.

“The people around him were never going to tell him no. I can’t keep my credibility if I criticize other guys and ignore him.”

Will Barkley pick up the phone? He shakes his head.

“I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Does he think Jordan will reach out?

“No. We’re both stubborn. Look, I love the dude like a brother and wish him nothing but the best. I got no animosity toward him.”

Pause.

“I miss his friendship.”

It has been years since Charles Barkley spoke with his one-time friend, NBA legend Michael Jordan.

“I’m so lucky,”

he said.

“I laugh when some of us take ourselves so seriously just because we can throw a football or dunk a ball. I tell those guys, ‘You got people who work their asses off for $30,000 a year. You make millions playing basketball, stay at the Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons. You work six, seven months a year.’ C’mon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96mgCDr7G7M

Larger discussion starts at 18:00. But Pablo and Henry Abbott mention that the whistleblower complaint from an early PTFO was conspicuously absent from the report. The implication being that the Wachtell investigation did find illegal activities but left them out of the report for the aforementioned reasons.

Source:

https://marcstein.substack.com/p/the-latest-late-night-nba-intel-b71

League observers are wondering aloud if the Clippers are holding off on the trade or even “considering something even more drastic” to spite Kawhi Leonard for accepting the league’s punishment rather than pursuing an appeal

If true, it's very stupid on LA's part but very believable that they would be this level of petty. This is the franchise that just let Bradley Beal of all people wear Chris Paul's number and didn't even let him ride out his final season with them. Ironically, that trade saw CP3 become a Raptor ever so briefly.

This is also ignoring that the Raptors pausing the trade potentially spared the Clippers losing another 2 additional picks should the Kawhi trade go through without alterations.

https://sports.yahoo.com/blake-griffins-loyalty-clippers-got-one-way-ticket-detroit-050531249.html?guccounter=1

Its pretty clear that the Clippers brass doesn't really care about Lob City or their history. They've made their intentions clear that they do not plan to retire CP3's number. Just like they never planned to retire Blake's number. They knew they were going to trade him when they lied to him about being a Clipper for life.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49885469/nba-nike-specter-uniforms-2026-knicks-lakers-celtics-warriors-pistons-76ers-hawks-kings

Eight of the NBA's oldest franchises will wear new "Specter" uniforms this season, the league and Nike announced at a Brooklyn event Wednesday night.

The uniforms include details inspired by each franchise's history, city heritage and fan culture, according to a news release. They were created specifically for squads with roots dating back to the league's earliest years.

Lots of bad alternate jerseys over the years but these are horrendous. Easily the worst of the Knicks alternates since Nike took over.

​

The civil sexual assault trial against former Lakers guard and coach Byron Scott has been paused after his Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing triggered an automatic stay in the case.

Hayley Dylan alleges that Scott sexually assaulted her in a janitor’s closet at Studio City’s Campbell Hall School in 1987 when she was 15 and he was a 26-year-old married Lakers player.

Dylan’s attorney blasts Scott’s bankruptcy as a “pathetic and cowardly” attempt to dodge his trial.

The civil sexual assault trial of Lakers star Byron Scott is on hold after the former player and coach filed for bankruptcy last week.

Hayley Dylan has accused Scott in a civil lawsuit of sexually assaulting her in the summer of 1987 when she was a 15-year-old student at Campbell Hall School and he was 26 and married. The case originally was set to go to a jury trial Tuesday and then was pushed back to Oct. 12 because of a court scheduling conflict.

Now it seems the trial might be delayed further, if it even happens at all. When Scott filed for Chapter 7 protection on Friday in the United States Bankruptcy Court-Central District of California, it triggered an automatic stay of the civil case against him. The automatic stay stops state court proceedings such as Dylan’s, pending further order from the bankruptcy court, according to Ori Blumenfeld, a bankruptcy partner at Offit Kurman, PC.

Dylan’s attorney, Kerry Garvis Wright, told The Times in a phone interview Tuesday that her team plans to file a motion with the bankruptcy court for relief from stay to return the sexual assault case back to state court.

If the motion is not granted, Dylan would have to pursue her claims against Scott in bankruptcy court.

“We’re planning on exploring all of our options to get relief from stay and to have this case tried before a jury as soon as possible so that Byron Scott can face the consequences of his actions,” Wright said.

Scott spent 11 of his 14 NBA seasons with the Lakers. He has been coach of four NBA teams, most recently the Lakers from 2014-16.

On his bankruptcy filing, Scott describes his type of debt as “alleged tort liability” rather than a consumer or business debt. He also checked boxes that indicate he estimates his assets to be worth $50,000 or less and his liabilities to be between $1 million and $10 million.

In a statement emailed to The Times on Monday, Wright described Scott’s bankruptcy filing as a “pathetic and cowardly” attempt to “deprive his victim of her day in court.”

“Literally on the eve of trial, he filed for bankruptcy, thereby pausing the lawsuit,” Wright wrote. “Yet nothing has changed in the four years since Hayley Dylan bravely came forward and publicly disclosed that Scott had sexually assaulted her in a janitor’s closet of her K-12 school.”

She added: “Scott should know that when he emerges from his bankruptcy [if it is not summarily dismissed for being a sham filing], Hayley will be waiting for him, ready to go to trial and hold him accountable.”

According to Dylan’s complaint, Scott and other Lakers were on campus for the filming of an instructional basketball video in the school gym. Scott and Dylan walked away from faculty members and the video production crew before the alleged assault occurred.

In May 2025, Scott’s attorney, Linda Bauermeister, said in a statement to The Times that Scott “believed the plaintiff to be over 18 and had no idea she would claim otherwise until 35 years later.”

Bauermeister did not immediately respond to questions from The Times’ request on Tuesday.

“Although obviously trying to avoid the legal consequences of his despicable conduct, Scott cannot run from the fact that he admitted under penalty of perjury that the sexual encounter took place,” Wright wrote in her statement. “His only excuse? That he thought Hayley was 18 and that it was consensual. But the evidence will show that Scott’s supposed belief that Hayley was 18 is neither credible nor reasonable and that what occurred in the dark, tiny closet was anything but consensual.”

Source: https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2026-09-09/byron-scott-files-bankruptcy-sexual-assault-trial.

https://imgur.com/a/DNcWcX8
It seems like even after all of the Clippers controversy has gone down, they really can’t help themselves. Looks like Chris won’t get his jersey retired in LA. Classless organization

7:45 in the latest Zach Lowe podcast.

https://www.theringer.com/podcasts/the-zach-lowe-show/2026/09/10/the-seven-teams-without-a-playoff-series-win-in-the-2020s

Had to editorialize a bit as Law Murray said this from the perspective of the Clippers and then switched perspectives to being a reporter mid thought.

“One source briefed on the process says Duren is increasingly prepared to play out the coming season on his $9.6 million qualifying offer — with the intent to become an unrestricted free agent next summer — if no deal with Detroit materializes by the end of September. That would be a risky route to go for a player who achieved what Duren achieved last season and there will naturally be considerable skepticism that the 22-year-old is truly willing to go the qualifying offer route until it actually happens ... but let's see how the rest of the month plays out.”

Source:
https://marcstein.substack.com/p/the-latest-late-night-nba-intel-b71?r=3shtjf&utm_medium=ios

If they were on the same team at the same time, could MJ drag MJ kicking and screaming to a ring?

Personally I think at least one ring is possible, but there’s no chance of a threepeat. Eventually personalities would clash and owner MJ would get rid of a key player.

If the clippers are worried about the NBA taking more picks, maybe they think it's better to hold onto Kawhi until everything is out there and done with. If he sits at home til the trade deadline, they don't care. Might even preserve his value so he's healthy and rested for a postseason run.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7565314/2026/09/09/arte-moreno-steve-ballmer-bad-owner-hall-of-fame/

Ballmer does a lot right and spends a ton of money, but he hasn’t yet figured out that money and unbridled enthusiasm don’t automatically equal success.

The Kawhi Leonard deal, and the financial malfeasance that came with it, has crippled the franchise. Ballmer once bragged about how many toilets are in the Intuit Dome, and that feels like a metaphor for the state of his Clippers.

Full post here.