A common defense of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was that he was too smart to attempt such a clumsy scheme. This underestimates how a desperate desire to win can lead highly successful people to take irrational risks, assuming their status will protect them from discovery and consequences.
The NBA strategically gave Kawhi Leonard a minor fine. Leonard's acceptance of this favorable settlement legally removed the option for binding arbitration. This boxed in owner Steve Ballmer, leaving a public lawsuit with damaging discovery as his only recourse, which is a much weaker negotiating position.
For Steve Ballmer, a $30M fine and $50M legal fee were "rounding errors." The most meaningful punishment was a one-year ban from his own arena—a building he obsessively micromanaged. This shows that for the ultra-wealthy, effective penalties are personal and symbolic, targeting ego and passions rather than their bank accounts.
Ballmer's scheme was "too clever by half." By creating fake consulting agreements with four separate companies to create distance, they left a massive paper trail and involved numerous people who could later testify. The complexity, intended as a shield, became the scheme's undoing by creating multiple points of evidence and failure.
With his back against the wall, Steve Ballmer's best defense is to demonstrate that his actions, while illicit, are common practice. The NBA's severe punishment has created a situation where the punished party is now the most motivated person to uncover and leak other teams' similar schemes, turning a targeted investigation into a league-wide crisis.
In an attempt to gain an immediate competitive edge, the Clippers organization engaged in a scheme that resulted in losing five first-round draft picks. This short-term, unethical gamble crippled their ability to acquire future talent, setting the franchise back for a decade and turning a championship dream into a long-term rebuilding nightmare.