Wachtell on why the investigation took so long This effort was challenged by the approach of the Clippers and their outside counsel who at times delayed in responding to requests for information and operated in an adversarial or obfuscatory manner that slowed the ability to gather the facts

Quotes from Brian Windhorst Tim MacMahon Zach Lowe Chris Mannix and Jon Krawczynski describing how Clippers acted and lied personally to the media during the investigation Krawczynski It was a behind the scenes ferocious defense that was accusatory to anyone who dared question them

PTFO The NBA was looking forward to settling and negotiating down the Clippers' punishment The Clippers fundamentally refused to settle and undercut the investigation at every turn giving the version of their defense to ESPN as the NBA's findings

Pablo Torre in the wake of the Clippers' severe punishment reveals there are still more pieces of the ClippersKawhi Leonard situation that he knows about and that his investigation isnt over yet There is more to come than is in the NBAs report This is not everything

Law Murray The shocking thing for me is that the Clippers really thought the NBA was going to be on their side the whole time I think they operated in that wayIt just feels like the Clippers didn't expect this

Shelburne They're talking about a settlement conversations have been more about this failure to supervise and the nature of the introductions that were made between the Clippers and Kawhi's people rather than direct evidence of salary cap circumvention done by Steve Ballmer

Pablo Torre says the NBA approached Steve Ballmer told him they found wrongdoing and tried to get him to admit to it and accept the punishment Instead Ballmer chose to fight it so the NBA turned around and found a way to settle the matter with Kawhi and the NBPA