On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Shams Charania, Brian Windhorst weigh in on the NBA’s punishments of the LA Clippers and Kawhi Leonard over salary cap circumvention violations.
0:00 Clippers statement
1:00 Stephen A. on the reality of the situation
3:15 Kawhi-Raptors trade
8:00 Shams’ update on Kawhi to Raptors
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@bestoftranceFM
September 3, 2026 at 10:35 pm
espn clearly jst kawhi haters cuz he gives mediano content, ill always be a kawhi fan hes game is all i need
@youngmeezy7635
September 3, 2026 at 10:36 pm
Terrible investment😅
@mannedi8665
September 3, 2026 at 10:39 pm
Kawhi’s so called simple good guy image is saving his career right now.
@RJames-uy2mt
September 3, 2026 at 11:00 pm
Kawhi and his uncle already had the uncle being the fall guy if they were ever caught so Kawhi could keep playing.
@WENG0407
September 3, 2026 at 11:07 pm
What’s ALL THESE carrying water for Steve Ballmer, and misdirection towards Kawhi Leanord? I don’t see how what Kawhi Leonard in accepting what’s being offered as Law Breaking. The focus should be on what Ballmer did, knowingly. Imagine, if Pable Torre didn’t “Find Out”, and Pablo just followed the money trail from the Aspiration collapse, NO ONE WOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS. And Y’all at ESPN have been RUNNING COVER for Ballmer for the LAST WHOLE YEAR. START FOCUSING on Ballmer.
@WENG0407
September 3, 2026 at 11:09 pm
Perhaps PTFO should find out about SAS and Steve Ballmer.
@thomasstephens7293
September 3, 2026 at 11:15 pm
If this was Ballmer, Kawhi and an STD nobody would blame the gonorrhea.
@mytzlplk
September 3, 2026 at 11:17 pm
Has *Steve* *Ballmer* destroyed the Clippers?
@Mitch-z1t
September 3, 2026 at 11:20 pm
Ballmer and Leonard no respect for the team, league and fans. Ballmer should sell and Leonard should be suspended for a year. Both garbage
@bryceturner3566
September 4, 2026 at 12:06 am
I’m a Spurs fan… If you would’ve told me in 2014 this would be Kawhi’s career path, I would’ve never believed you
@DeepSweetSoulful
September 4, 2026 at 12:07 am
Agree with most but it’s absurdly unfair for SAS to say they should cancel the trade. That would only punish Toronto. Toronto already suffered from the unfair advantage the Clippers had in negotiating for Kawai, taking him away from our championship squad. Toronto legit could have returned to the finals the following year if Kawai stayed.
@ShortChizel31
September 4, 2026 at 12:14 am
Kawhi is wild with that statement.
@christiannunez2325
September 4, 2026 at 12:26 am
I love my Clippers and this is so sad for us. However, I strongly disagree how easy Leonard got it. If he knew that something was shady n still decided to do it, im sorry he should be accountable like Steve, Clippers, and anyone else. His uncle tried to pull that mess with the lakers n he knew about it. Im sorry but this dude is really good but he needs to go. We should not keep him. N he needs to be punished as well as the others..
@osamaobama3654
September 4, 2026 at 12:33 am
700k is like 7 cents for Kawhi lol
@passerby2487
September 4, 2026 at 12:38 am
Shams showing where his mentality partly comes from — Kobe and Batman.
@jjabney
September 4, 2026 at 12:44 am
Ballmer is a jackass
@KendallLXL
September 4, 2026 at 12:54 am
Adam Silver is terrible.
@iangonzaga9222
September 4, 2026 at 12:59 am
I bet on Ballmer FTW
@gr8tfishgr8tfish99
September 4, 2026 at 1:03 am
Kawhi didn’t destroy the clippers, Ballmer did when they started sending staff to Raptors games in the chip year. Shady practices started way back. Torre, you are hero for exposing it.
@shutup-q2l
September 4, 2026 at 1:16 am
Ballmer and friends destroyed the Clippers. A player can ask for whatever they want. A team doesn’t need to break the rules to give it to them. F-SAS. F-Windy. F-Ramona F-McAfee F-ESPN.
@luisasilva8698
September 4, 2026 at 1:37 am
OF COURSE Shans spends his time exonerating by Kawhi. Shams also believes Shohei didn’t know anything about the gambling.
@imusama1876
September 4, 2026 at 1:45 am
Blud Finessed the clippers and now he’s leaving the country 🤣
@mr.anderson3694
September 4, 2026 at 1:48 am
At least Harden’s 90 mill isn’t laundered. Just flushed.
@bennythedestroyer7
September 4, 2026 at 1:55 am
Shams is con man
@user-kw1zn8su3j
September 4, 2026 at 2:34 am
This made me realize SA is really a hater sometimes
@numailer
September 4, 2026 at 2:46 am
Spurs fans out there! Aren’t yall happy yall got out from under this guys back in 2018?