Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. didn’t provide his former agent written notice of 15 days prior to firing him before he signed a free agent contract last year. That was a key reason why an arbitrator ruled that Jones’ former agent, Aaron Turner, was entitled to his full 4% commission of $1.2MM on the three-year, $30MM contract that Jones inked, Michael McCann of Sportico reports.
Jones stated he directly negotiated with the Clippers last year. Prior to Turner’s dismissal, the Mavericks offered Jones a three-year, $27MM contract. Jones testified he was “furious” by the offer, which was much less than he expected.
On June 26, 2024, Jones sent Turner an email saying he was terminating their Standard Player Agent Contract. Two days later, Jones asked Turner to waive the 15-day notice period and Turner declined.
Here’s more on the Los Angeles teams:
- So what kind of penalties could the league hit the Clippers with regarding Kawhi Leonard‘s alleged no-show endorsement deal if it’s determined the team circumvented the salary cap illegally? John Hollinger of The Athletic notes that the league could fine the Clippers up to $7.5MM, fine Leonard up to $350K, forfeit Clippers draft picks, suspend owner Steve Ballmer or other Clipper personnel up to a year and fine them up to $1MM each; void Leonard’s contract and prohibit him from re-signing with the Clippers; and require Leonard to return the money he received from Aspiration. Voiding Leonard’s contract could lead to unintended consequences, with him becoming a free agent and signing with a contender on a minimum contract, Hollinger notes.
- Regarding the investigation, commissioner Adam Silver promised at the Front Office Sports conference that “We will get to the bottom of it,” according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic (Twitter link). Silver added that “I don’t know anything about Kawhi’s deal. Show, no show; we’ll certainly find out.” The league hired a law firm to investigate the matter.
- Luka Doncic admits he was shocked when the Mavericks traded him to the Lakers and wasn’t sure how to process it, he told Jason Gay of The Wall Street Journal (subscription required, hat tip to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports). “I didn’t know how to react, how to act, what to say,” Doncic said. “It was a lot of shock. I felt Dallas was my home. I had many friends there. The fans always supported me. I didn’t want to upset Dallas fans. And I didn’t want to upset Laker fans.” Doncic also described his offseason conditioning program, which included one key element. “For the first time, I stopped playing basketball for a month,” he said, replacing that with “pure training and fitness.”
“The league could fine the Clippers up to $7.5MM, fine Leonard up to $350K, forfeit Clippers draft picks, suspend owner Steve Ballmer or other Clipper personnel up to a year and fine them up to $1MM each; void Leonard’s contract and prohibit him from re-signing with the Clippers; and require Leonard to return the money he received from Aspiration.”
Nothing about forcing a sale of the team? The fines are ridiculously small. Draft picks are the only thing that are going to hurt enough to deter anyone from engaging in this behavior.
That’s right. The great American way. Guilty until proven guilty. If proven innocent, you are still guilty.
Well, in your case it’s more like if proven guilty, you are still innocent. I don’t know who’s gone to bat more for the Clippers, you or Cuban lol.
If the league investigates and finds nothing nefarious occurred I’ll gladly eat crow, though I’m sure some would embrace conspiracy theories where the league purposely let the Clippers off the hook. I just don’t see why they want to do that here, so I’m inclined to believe the outcome of the firm’s investigation even if the final punishment is soft.
If Balmer were trying to launder money, why would he do it in a public fashion? I think he could find a better way to do it. Kawhi couldn’t have done any work for Aspiration. They went out of business of few months later. If anything hinky was going on, why hasn’t Oaktree sued Balmer? They have had plenty of time.
You should learn the difference between formal legal charges in a court of law. and violating a private collectively bargained agreement. Innocent until proven guilty does not apply. I can’t remember the exact language in the CBA but Silver can act on circumstantial evidence and the honus is on the Clippers to explain the inexplicable.
Silver said it is up to the League to prove that the Clippers violated the CBA. What is inexplicable about the deal. Besides, if something hinky was going on, why hasn’t Oaktree sued Balmer?
I AM FURIOUS BY A 3 YEAR $27MM OFFER!!!!!! OUTRAGED!!! okay i will take 3 years and 30.
To be fair living in SoCal compared to Texas takes a lot of the outrage away!
3/30 in Socal is less than 3/27 in Texas
It costs more cause it’s worth it. You get what you pay for!!!
lol