When Pablo Torre conducted that exposé in September, onlookers thought it would have a seismic effect on the NBA, equal to the Clippers chaos of 2014. The LA side and its owner, Steve Ballmer, are under internal investigation, and it’s anyone’s guess what consequences this could carry at this point. But if you ask one of the players who’s seen the gritty side of the NBA business, this is hardly going to cause a ripple.

Gilbert Arenas knows the sense of self-preservation within the NBA well. The self-doubt that led him to switch from #0 to #9 at the Wizards showed that the league will do its best to protect itself. He made those feelings very loud on Netflix’s Untold: Shooting Guards. However, this has nothing to do with the current situation. It’s just a lesson about the NBA’s approach to business.

Arenas was once again chatting with his favorite interviewer, DJ Vlad, on a variety of topics. Inevitably, Vlad had to ask what would happen with the Kawhi Leonard-Clippers situation. The short answer, according to the Wizards star, is “Nothing.”

The long answer is not for the idealists.

“Let’s be honest, to get around in a salary cap in a business where you’re capping off million and billionaire from spending money that they want to spend. ‘I want to pay you, but I can’t because these broke boys are complaining,’ so I gotta figure out how to get you to this team,” the NBA legend said.

In the immediate aftermath of Torres’ revelations, several retired NBA players were hardly shocked. Amused, more like it. They were on their podcasts, cautiously implying this practice isn’t new. It’s only that it’s being publicized now. So, is Commissioner Adam Silver not aware of it? More information is emerging every week. A verdict, and a harsh one, however, seems far away. There’s a big reason for it, according to Arenas.

“You think he would be the only one guilty of it? The commissioner works for the owners, so how many of these other owners will be guilty of the same thing? So, if you investigate this one, then that means you’re going to have to open up investigations for all of them, and at the end of the day, they pay you your salary. So, you’re not going to find anything,” Arenas claimed.

But the Clippers owner’s stance isn’t looking great as more evidence piles up against him. A recent report by WSJ suggested that the LA side played a proactive role in Kawhi striking a deal with Aspiration, but Steve Ballmer had earlier claimed the opposite. Adam Silver also reaffirmed that Joseph Sandberg (Aspiration’s co-founder), who pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in downtown LA, will have a ripple effect on the internal NBA investigation.

“We will look at everything that’s presented to us, and that includes inferences that come from evidence as well,” Adam Silver assured the fanbase recently. However, Arenas begs to differ and feels Steve Ballmer might get a slap on the wrist so the NBA can keep this can of worms closed.

No going around the governors, Agent Zero boldly claims with an NFL comparison… why?

Even Pablo Torre suggested that the Clippers aren’t the only team that’ve gone around the salary cap. He ended his revelations by stating he was investigating the Knicks next! If he comes out with that too, the NBA will have to investigate another team or, depending on fans’ sentiments, take leaguewide measures.

According to Gilbert Arenas, NBA owners are astute businesspeople who will get creative with salary caps and tax aprons if it can help them acquire the talent to win championships. “Don’t tell me how to spend my money, that’s really what it is. I want to pay him. That’s why I gotta do all this jumping through the hoops s— to give him $28 million, because that’s what I think he’s worth,” he said.

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“Whoever the lowest is in the NBA, obviously, they’re not on the same platform. He can’t compete with this… And that’s where the salary cap comes in. It comes in because the smaller guys don’t want the bigger guys just bullying them for the players… We’re talking about how you think Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers in the early 90s was just getting all the players… There’s a reason that the talent sits in certain places, because through those rules they can still bully. Now, if there was no rules, there wouldn’t be no other teams winning nothing,” Arenas concluded.

Kawhi Leonard could easily be a high-value player if not for the injuries. Arenas and others implied in the recent past that if the NBA were very serious, The Klaw wouldn’t be playing this preseason. Their focus has been more on whether Kawhi’s combination with CP3, Harden, and Beal makes the Clips contenders.

Arenas might be reaching, or he could be saying what everyone’s thinking. While the Aspiration drama caused uproar outside the league, NBA players, both retired and active, have been blasé about it. They’ve seen too much inside the league to blink.