Sports
Silver: Burden on NBA to show violation by Clips
NEW YORK — It will be up to the NBA to prove wrongdoing during its investigation of potential salary cap circumvention by the LA Clippers, owner Steve Ballmer and star Kawhi Leonard, league commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday.
“The burden is on the league if we’re going to discipline a team, an owner, a player or any constituent members of the league,” Silver said during his annual news conference at the conclusion of the league’s board of governors meetings in midtown Manhattan. “I think as with any process that requires a fundamental sense of fairness, the burden should be on the party that is, in essence, bringing those charges.”
Silver said the league needs to look “at the totality of the evidence” rather than just “mere appearance.”
“Just by the way those words read, I think as a matter of fundamental fairness, I would be reluctant to act if there was sort of a mere appearance of impropriety. … I think that the goal of a full investigation is to find out if there really was impropriety. Also, in a public-facing sport, the public at times reaches conclusions that later turn out to be completely false. I’d want anybody else in the situation Mr. Ballmer is in now, or Kawhi Leonard for that matter, to be treated the same way I would want to be treated if people were making allegations against me.”
The league has already begun an investigation into whether Ballmer and the Clippers violated league rules because Leonard accepted a $28 million endorsement for a “no-show job” from Aspiration, a now-bankrupt green banking company in which Ballmer had invested.
The allegations first came out last week when an unnamed employee who purportedly worked for Aspiration told podcaster Pablo Torre that the payment to Leonard “was to circumvent the salary cap.”
Sources told ESPN that while there will be a thorough investigation of the matter by New York-based law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, there is no set deadline to find a conclusion.
There has been a healthy amount of debate about whether any decision by Silver — who reaffirmed Wednesday that he has “very broad powers in these situations” — would be dictated by whether the Clippers would have to prove their innocence, or whether the burden of proof was instead on the NBA to find wrongdoing.
Silver made it clear it will be the latter.
“I’ve been around the league long enough in different permutations of allegations and accusations that I’m a big believer in due process and fairness, and we need to now let the investigation run its course,” Silver said.
Silver also said that’s the opinion of Ballmer’s fellow owners.
“At least what’s being said to me is a reservation of judgment,” Silver said. “I think people recognize that that’s what you have a league office for. That’s what you have a commissioner for — someone who is independent of the teams. On one hand, of course, I work collectively for the 30 governors, but I have an independent obligation to be the steward of the brand and the integrity of this league.
“At least what those governors have said directly to me. To the extent we have had discussions [with the board of governors] — they’ve been limited — we communicated to them that we engaged Wachtell to do this investigation. And maybe I cut off any further conversations and said, ‘Let’s all withhold judgment, let’s do this investigation and then we will come back to you in terms of our findings.'”
Silver also hit upon a few other league topics:
ALL-STAR GAME FORMAT: Silver said the goal is to have the new All-Star Game format in place by the start of the regular season. He did confirm it will be shifting to a three-team format featuring 16 American players and eight international players at February’s All-Star Game in Los Angeles.
Silver said it is a priority to get the players engaged in the league’s marquee event.
“I think in the case of the NBA, this is what I’m trying to convey, particularly to younger players, is that All-Star is a big deal,” Silver said. “There’s been great traditions out there. People have great memories of these All-Star Games. It’s part of the fabric of this league, the excitement that comes from it and the engagement from our players.”
EUROPEAN LEAGUE: Silver said that discussions about the various things that will go into potentially creating an NBA-run league in Europe continue and that many different parts of the league office are involved in those talks.
Silver said he and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum traveled to Europe to meet with different stakeholders this summer. Silver also said discussions with the EuroLeague, the biggest league in Europe today, remain ongoing after his news conference earlier this year with FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis — who has openly feuded with the EuroLeague in the past.
Silver went on to say that the impression that the NBA is putting domestic expansion ahead of creating a European league is “not the case.”
“I see them as completely different entities,” Silver said, adding that there was no new news to report on the topic, though it again came up at the board meeting.
“Part of the difficulty in potentially assessing it is a sense of long-term value of the league, and a little bit maybe it’s a high-class problem, but as with some of the recent jumps in franchise valuations, that sort of creates some confusion in the marketplace about how you might even price an expansion franchise,” he said.
“I’ll only say it’s something that we continue to actively look at.”
BEASLEY INVESTIGATION: Silver declined to say whether there are any limitations on Malik Beasley‘s availability while the NBA conducts its own investigation into gambling allegations against the free agent guard.
“I’ll only say there that the investigation is ongoing,” Silver said. “As I understand it, there’s still a federal investigation that’s ongoing of Malik Beasley as well. We will address whatever is presented to us in his case.”
On Monday, following a 1-0 away defeat to Lazio this weekend, Juventus sacked manager Igor Tudor. Reportedly, there’s no replacement immediately lined up — they’re considering both former Italy boss Luciano Spalletti and Raffaele Palladino, who took Fiorentina to sixth place last season. Whoever takes over will become the sixth permanent manager in the past six years.
Juventus represent a case study in what not to do, but also serve as a reminder that poor decisions in the recent past impact the present and the future, narrowing the ability of replacements to make optimal choices. Their next managerial move will determine if they descend further down their spiral, or if they finally start to rid their system of the poisons built up over the years.
Tudor paid the price not just for his own mistakes, but also those made by the guys who came before him. Not just coaches either, everyone from sporting directors to chief executives is, to varying degrees, responsible. As, of course, are many of the players.
– Juve sack Tudor after just seven months
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Tudor took over as an interim boss in March of last year, replacing Thiago Motta. (The latter was a horrendous choice who stuck around too long.) They were one point out of the Champions League places in Serie A and his brief was to steer them into the top four, which he did (by a point).
In the meantime, the club were going to figure out what to do for 2025-26 — except there was nobody to do the “figuring out” because Cristiano Giuntoli, the chief decision-maker, was already on his way out of the club less than two years into a five-year contract. His replacement, Damien Comolli, took over on June 1, and with the Club World Cup around the corner, he opted to stick with Tudor for the following season as well.
The thinking in retaining Tudor was that there just wasn’t enough time — five or six weeks — to identify a long-term coach ahead of the 2025-26 season, and they didn’t want to rush into a commitment. Hindsight is 20/20, but obviously that was the wrong decision because now it’s nearly Halloween and they have five or six days (not weeks) to find somebody.
Comolli and his recruitment team got to work on the summer transfers, but here too their hands were somewhat tied. If you look on Transfermarkt, you’ll note that Juventus spent €137 million ($160m), which sounds like a lot until you realize that €105.8m ($123m) was to make permanent moves for players who were already at the club on loans: Chico Conceicao, Pierre Kalulu, Lloyd Kelly, Nico González (who then immediately loaned out to Atletico Madrid) and Michele Di Gregorio. In most cases, Juve had an obligation to make the deals permanent so, in fact, there wasn’t much room to operate in the summer. A classic case of the present burdened by the mistakes of the past.
Still, the club made four signings and here, you wonder how much they considered Tudor’s football credo.
Wide players Eden Zhegrova and João Mário made just two league starts between them. The other two arrivals were forwards: free agent Jonathan David (who signed a hefty contract that made him the club’s second-highest paid player) and Loïs Openda. Their return? Six combined league starts and one goal. It soon became obvious that Tudor, a stickler for his 3-4-2-1 system, was only going to play one center forward at a time and with Dusan Vlahovic sticking around, there were only so many minutes to dole out. Considering his trio of center forwards make up roughly 20% of Juve’s wage bill, that’s terrible resource allocation.
Tudor’s system, of course, also means three central defenders and there are only five in the squad, the bare minimum for a side competing in the Champions League. They make up less than 12% of the wage bill despite the fact there are three times as many of them on the pitch as there are center forwards. Again: resource allocation.
Comolli, you imagine, would probably say: “Gab, what do you want me to do? The club made more than half a billion Euros in losses in the past five seasons. Guys who came before me made decisions and commitments, and now I have to deal with the consequences of that.”
And, of course, he’d be right. The combination of COVID-19 and short-term thinking led to the accounting games and “buy now, pay later” shenanigans of the loan-plus-obligation deals that are severely limiting the club here and now. The fact that Filip Kostic, Daniele Rugani and Arek Milik (who last played football of any kind in June 2024) are still in the squad tells its own story. (Fun fact: Arthur is still a Juve player too although at least he’s on loan elsewhere, so you’re not reminded of past follies every time you see him.)
Then there are the ones who got away. Clubs make mistakes all the time when it comes to homegrown players — heck, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer were at Manchester City, Declan Rice was at Chelsea — but Juve raise it to an art form of futility.
In the past 18 months, Juventus let Matìas Soulè, Dean Huijsen, Koni De Winter, Moise Kean and Nicolo’ Fagioli leave for combined fees of less than €85m; now their transfer valuations are two-and-a-half times that. (None of them, other than Kean, got a legitimate sustained shot at the first team.) It feels like they spent a fortune on their B-team — Juve Next Gen, who play in the third tier — not as a player development tool, but rather as a piggy bank to raid in order to fill accounting holes elsewhere.
We can talk about stability and long-term squad-building all we like, but first we need to recognize that, a bit like pollution, it always future generations who pay the price for past mistakes. Juve’s recent past is littered with so many blunders that whoever is in charge today is somewhat strait-jacketed.
And this context is what makes Juve’s next steps so interesting. They have a legitimate core of young(ish) talent locked up to long-term contracts that you can build around: Kenan Yildiz (20), David (25), Khephren Thuram (24), Conceicao (22), Andrea Cambiaso (25), Kalulu (25) — maybe free agent-to-be Vlahovic too if you get him to stick around at a reasonable price (i.e., a heck of a lot less than his expiring deal). But it will take time to cycle the toxins of past bad decisions out of the system and that’s why the idea of even considering a 66 year old like Spalletti (leaving aside his disastrous tenure with the national team) would be foolish.
Take your medicine now, suffer a little bit, learn from the past and you’ll have a brighter future.
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The best-of-seven World Series is all even at two games apiece.
The Toronto Blue Jays recovered from Monday’s epic 18-inning marathon to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday night. Both teams were running on fumes after the near seven-hour showdown, but Toronto’s offense came alive behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette.
A sacrifice fly from Enrique Hernández gave the Dodgers an early lead, but Guerrero Jr.’s two-run homer in the third inning put Toronto ahead for good.
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Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) of the Toronto Blue Jays reacts after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game four of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 28, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Blue Jays bounced back just hours after country music star Brad Paisley declared himself “Mr. More Baseball.” The singer performed the national anthem before the marathon Game 3. The Dodgers won 6-5 on Freddie Freeman’s homer that ended the game nearly seven hours after Paisley’s performance.
PATRICK MAHOMES, KEVIN DURANT, DAK PRESCOTT AMONG STARS IN AWE OF SHOHEI OHTANI
Shohei Ohtani, one of the Dodgers’ heroes this postseason, started Game 4 for Los Angeles. He went six innings, allowing four earned runs and striking out six.
The two-way star made history just one night earlier, becoming the first player since 1906 to record four extra-base hits in a World Series game and reaching base nine times – tying a Series record.
Shohei Ohtani (17) of the Los Angeles Dodgers throws a pitch in the first inning in game four of the 2025 World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 28, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Harry How/Getty Images)
Bo Bichette delivered a two-RBI single in the seventh to extend the Blue Jays’ lead. Shane Bieber earned the win for Toronto, pitching 5 ⅓ innings and allowing just one run. Ohtani was charged with the loss.
Bo Bichette (11) of the Toronto Blue Jays hits a two-RBI single in the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game four of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 28, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Harry How/Getty Images)
The Dodgers used only three relievers after Ohtani’s exit, while the Blue Jays needed four pitchers in total to close out the nine-inning win.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays meet in the 2025 World Series. (FOX)
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Game 5 is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX before the series shifts back to Toronto for Game 6.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Let’s play another 18!
After an epic Game 3 that went a record-tying 18 innings, Game 4 of the 2025 World Series will be a true test for both the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays. Can the Dodgers ride the high of Freddie Freeman‘s walk-off home run to a third straight victory, or will the Blue Jays’ bats bounce back to tie the Fall Classic at two games apiece? What will Shohei Ohtani — who will be on the mound for L.A. — do for an encore after a history-making night at the plate?
In other words: What can we expect?
From the pregame lineups to in-game analysis and our postgame takeaways, we’ve got you covered on another big (and long?) night at Dodger Stadium.
Key links: World Series schedule, results
Live analysis
Gamecast: Follow the action pitch-by-pitch here
Lineups
Dodgers lead series 2-1
Starting pitchers: Shane Bieber vs. Shohei Ohtani
Lineups
Blue Jays
1. Nathan Lukes (L) LF
2. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
3. Bo Bichette (R) DH
4. Addison Barger (L) RF
5. Alejandro Kirk (R) C
6. Daulton Varsho (L) CF
7. Ernie Clement (R) 3B
8. Andres Gimenez (L) SS
9. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (R) 2B
Dodgers
1. Shohei Ohtani (L) P
2. Mookie Betts (R) SS
3. Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
4. Will Smith (R) C
5. Teoscar Hernandez (R) RF
6. Max Muncy (L) 3B
7. Tommy Edman (S) 2B
8. Enrique Hernandez (R) LF
9. Andy Pages (R) CF
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