Morning Edition

September 22, 2026

Jazz owner Ryan Smith told Front Office Sports that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is one of the first people he spoke with after buying the team. “I think he’s an incredible owner,” he said. But Smith said the NBA had to discipline him for salary cap circumvention. “I’m glad he accepted it, and we can all just turn the page and move on.”

The full interview with Ryan Smith comes out Tuesday.

—Ben Horney

First Up

First at FOS: The NFL said the field at Brazil’s Maracanã Stadium will be ready for the Ravens-Cowboys game Sunday, after soccer players complained about the grass.
The Canucks, who finished with the worst record in the NHL last season, are trying to revamp their image while also rebuilding their roster.
Team Moms: Baseball cast members responded to negative discourse about the upcoming show, with one telling FOS it’s “the direction” youth sports is headed.
Amazon reported an average of 18.6 million viewers for its first Thursday Night Football game of the season, up 5% from last year’s opener.

Jazz Owner Backs ‘Stand-Up’ Ballmer, but Says NBA Had to Punish Him

Front Office Sports

Jazz owner Ryan Smith agrees Steve Ballmer and the Clippers had to be punished for violating the NBA’s salary cap rules. But he also believes the league is better off with the former Microsoft CEO as one of its owners.

“He’s a stand-up individual first and foremost,” Smith told Front Office Sports on an upcoming episode of Portfolio Players. “This game is tricky; this game is hard. And obviously we have rules, and the NBA’s gotta do it; I’m glad he accepted it, and we can all just turn the page and move on.”

The NBA banned Ballmer for a year, fined him $30 million, and docked the Clippers’ five first-round draft picks for deals Kawhi Leonard made with four companies—Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics, and Lockton Insurance—that its investigation found violated the league’s cap circumvention rules.

Smith spoke to FOS shortly after the news that federal prosecutors were investigating the case, and that Ballmer had said he was accepting the NBA’s punishment.

Ballmer and Smith both made their money in tech, although Ballmer is orders of magnitude wealthier. Ballmer was the CEO of Microsoft, while Smith made his fortune selling survey software company Qualtrics. Smith told FOS Ballmer was one of the first people he spoke to when he bought the Jazz in 2022 for $1.66 billion.

“I love Steve; I think he’s an incredible owner,” Smith said. “I think the NBA is way better with him. Hopefully he can get back on the horse next year. … I think everyone’s just ready to move on.”

Smith noted this isn’t the “first time this has happened in the league,” that “these rules have to mean anything,” and that owners are “held to a pretty high standard comparatively.”

The most high-profile prior example of the NBA severely punishing a team for cap circumvention was in 2000, when the Timberwolves lost five first-round draft picks and were fined $3.5 million for reaching a deal with Joe Smith that included a handshake agreement that the forward would receive millions in additional compensation down the line as part of a future extension.

As part of the penalty there, then–NBA commissioner David Stern voided Smith’s contract.

Current NBA commissioner Adam Silver did not void Leonard’s contract, instead fining the star forward $700,000.

Ballmer’s Clippers were fined $250,000 in 2015 for improperly promising center DeAndre Jordan a potential third-party endorsement opportunity—which is what the investigation found the team did with Leonard.

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ONE BIG FIG

The Doc Is Out

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

1,194

That’s the number of NBA regular-season games Doc Rivers has won as a coach, the sixth-most all-time. His 114 playoff wins rank fourth all-time. NBC announced Monday that it has hired Rivers as an analyst for the upcoming season. He previously worked for NBC as a studio analyst during the 2012 Summer Olympics.

After his playing career ended in 1996, Rivers moved into broadcasting and appeared as an analyst for TNT for three seasons. In 1999, he took over as Magic head coach. He spent the next 27 years on the bench, going from Orlando to head coaching roles with the Celtics, Clippers, 76ers, and Bucks. That most recent stint, from 2024 to 2026, ended with Milwaukee missing the playoffs and star Giannis Antetokounmpo subsequently being traded to the Heat in the offseason. Rivers insists he won’t be back in Milwaukee or any other city unless it’s with a mic, telling the Associated Press, “I’m absolutely retired.”

DAILY SPORTS TRIVIA

Can you rank the top five PGA Tour players by lowest scoring average in the 2026 season?

LOUD AND CLEAR

Riding High

Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

“There’s a lot of good drugs out there.”

—Florida head coach Jon Sumrall reacting to DraftKings listing the 21st-ranked Gators as 3.5-point favorites against No. 4 Ole Miss on Saturday. Both teams are coming off wins, with the Rebels knocking off LSU in Oxford in Week 3 and Florida downing Auburn away from home. The Gators have finished with a losing record in four of the last five seasons and haven’t won an SEC championship since 2008. They fired head coach Billy Napier midway through last season and brought on Sumrall before this season; they’re off to their first 3–0 start since 2019.

But Sumrall is downplaying expectations for Saturday’s matchup at The Swamp. “I didn’t even know the favored deal, but whoever is doing that, I don’t know, they haven’t watched the tape.”

YOUR MORNING LISTEN

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Question of the Day

Do you agree with Ryan Smith that the NBA is better off with Steve Ballmer as one of its owners?

YES

Monday’s result: 65% of respondents think the NFL should relocate Sunday’s Ravens-Cowboys game amid concerns about the playing surface.

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