When it comes to salary cap subterfuge, as it does with practically all white-collar shenanigans, it pays to insulate. This is why the NBA flattened the Los Angeles Clippers, owner Steve Ballmer and various other key figures in the Kawhi Leonard salary cap circumvention scheme with crushing penalties. Advertisement It’s also why Leonard, the player who seemingly pocketed millions of …

Count me among the cynics who thought that Steve Ballmer was simply too rich, too friendly with NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and had too many lawyers to face serious punishment for his team’s blatant attempts to circumvent the salary cap with a series of shady endorsement deals for Kawhi Leonard. The punishment Silver and the NBA handed down Wednesday is …