I know in theory it's a bad look, but honestly I think I understand it here. First of all Ballmer is worth a horsefeathers ton more money than Kawhi will ever be. More importantly, the salary cap (leaving aside my thoughts on it as a concept) is the owners' tool to limit player compensation. They have to bring the hammer down when an owner takes steps like this to violate it, otherwise the tool has no meaning. Players can request their bosses do something like this all they want, but no one has to say yes.