NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Explains Process of LA Clippers Investigation

What Started The Investigation By Adam Silver

Silver mentioned that leading up to the inquiry, he spoke with Rick Buchanan -- the NBA's general counsel, who oversees any investigations. They agreed there was enough information that "necessitated an investigation."

Therefore, based upon the information that The Athletic's Pablo Torre had uncovered in his investigation, and in addition to any potential findings by the league office, Silver deemed that this was serious enough to be investigated, especially with potential circumvention happening.

"The goal of any investigation is to find out if there was impropriety. Because in any public-facing sport, the public at times reaches conclusions that later turn out to be completely false," Silver added. "I would want anybody else in the situation (like this) Mr. Ballmer is in now, or Kawhi Leonard for that matter, to be treated the same way I would want to be treated."

Before closing it out, Silver made sure to lay out what the NBA has the authority to do in a situation like this. "We're not a court of law. We have broad authority to look at all the information and to weigh accordingly."

What One NBA Insider Had To Say

Bobby Marks of ESPN spoke on what he believes will happen with the LA Clippers as this treads on.

"This is going to be a waiting game here," said Marks on ESPN's NBA Today. "Do not jump to conclusions on here. I think you could find a lot of teams who have violated the salary cap based on circumstantial evidence, with regard to the Clippers."

At this point, it seems too early to tell. Silver's remarks at the press conference indicate they will continue their investigation, but, like Marks noted on ESPN, no one should jump to conclusions. Making sure to cover all bases, there's no telling when a ruling will be made.

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