Category: NBA

Along with Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers should send the Toronto Raptors a fruit basket and a thank you card.

Because what was already a steal when the teams first agreed to the trade in June now looks like an absolute lifesaver. Paddles for the life raft so the Clippers can change directions and make better decisions — hopefully with better decision-makers.

First, the Clippers had to move on from Leonard, who reportedly will go back to Toronto for a package that includes Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2027 first-round pick swap and two second-round selections.

It’s a defibrillator of a deal. One that could keep the Clippers afloat after the NBA hammered them for all the salary-cap-circumventing they apparently did for Leonard, an oft-injured, 35-year-old who flopped even before the NBA blew the whistle on millions of dollars in off-the-books, no-show endorsements.

Read more:Steve Ballmer apologizes to fans, says Clippers will comply with NBA sanctions

With the trade finally completed after the Raptors paused it on July 9 as they awaited the results of the NBA’s investigation, and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer announcing Sunday he will accept the league’s historically steep punishment without further protest, Clippers fans can finally exhale.

Forget the fines and suspensions, most hurtful to fans is the league stripping the Clippers of five first-round draft picks, from 2029 through 2033.

A death sentence? Darn near would be, if not for the Raptors, those suckers — er, that one team whose fans still associate positive feelings with Kawhi.

Remember, Leonard won an NBA title with Toronto in 2019. That was the season before he seemingly started milking the Clippers, who also traded five first-round picks and future league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Paul George — to meet the demands of a guy who wouldn’t lead the Clippers to even one NBA Finals appearance.

At present, the Clippers will have Ingram, Darius Garland, Rui Hachimura and No. 5 pick Keaton Wagler on a Tyronn Lue-coached team. They’ll be a competitive regular-season team, as usual.

Read more:Swanson: Kawhi Leonard is a Hall of Fame scam artist who deserves Clippers fans' boos

And the Clippers could have cap room going into the 2027 or 2028 offseasons — not that big stars avail themselves in free agency anymore. These days, the goal is to get traded, retain Bird rights and maximize earnings. If not for Toronto’s first-round picks, the Clippers would have little draft capital to use in trades for impact players.

Now they have some, even if it’s only enough to pursue trades for the disgruntled, the redundant, the overpaid.

The Clippers could offer to take those sorts of players off teams’ hands — if they include future draft assets as sweeteners. Even if it takes the Clippers holding their nose and restocking, there are ways forward, and having the Raptors’ two first-rounders in their pocket will help.

It’s all so Clippers, to have lined up this move that will keep them afloat, just treading water.

Fifteen consecutive seasons of .500 or better ball, y’all! Someone, raise a banner.

The Clippers still don’t have an actual championship banner to decorate the Intuit Dome — and pursuing a title will be harder now, of course.

But it will be impossible if the Clippers don’t reset in a meaningful way, if they don’t replace Lawrence Frank, their president of basketball operations, who was among the Clippers’ executives punished by the NBA, with someone with better taste in stars.

Frank is a master of the margins, but the Clippers need a lead executive who can spot it — greatness, not just on the court, but in the locker room, in the community. Someone who will steer Ballmer toward not only elite basketball talent, but players who offer the whole package: leadership, competitiveness, desire, rootability.

The New York Knicks recognized all that in Jalen Brunson. They didn’t care that Becky Hammon and many more of us were skeptical about the prospects of a team that decided to build around a 6-foot-2 guard. And now, look. Brunson just led the Knicks to a championship.

The Clippers were so desperate for a star to pick them, they didn’t pick up on the fact that they already had a budding superstar in their midst. Gilgeous-Alexander played his rookie season with the Clippers and checked all the boxes Leonard wouldn’t. After they traded him to OKC, he worked and blossomed, becoming one of the NBA’s coolest competitors, a two-time league MVP, the undisputed leader of a championship team.

Read more:Plaschke: NBA drops the hammer on The Cheatin’ Clippers, and they can't shed the stink

But who could have predicted that?

Well, ideally, the professionals being paid to make personnel decisions.

Leonard hadn’t been the leader of either of his San Antonio Spurs or Raptors championship teams. He’d had an angsty breakup with the Spurs. He had a flashing-red injury history. He certainly did not have the personality to siphon any fans from a LeBron James-led Lakers team. And he came apparently asking for way too much!

The Clippers went all-in anyway, and they’ve had nothing but grief to show for it.

Grief and, now, Toronto’s two first-round picks. The question is who will use them, and how?

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and his staff had spent the last 12 months loudly insisting they’d done nothing wrong.

The podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” first raised questions about payments star forward Kawhi Leonard received from Aspiration Partners without doing any endorsement work to benefit the company on Sept. 3, 2025. The NBA responded by starting an investigation.

In its findings — released Sept. 2 — an independent law firm reported “a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations” that benefited Leonard, who received $66 million in cash and equity from four companies through agreements facilitated by Ballmer and team executives at the request of Leonard’s uncle and then-agent. Those deals violated the league salary cap, which limits how much teams can pay players. The cap is $164.961 million for the coming season.

The Clippers released two statements that same day, protesting the finding and the stiffest sanctions in NBA history, including a $30-million fine and the loss of five future first-round draft picks. In addition, Ballmer, 69, was banned from all league activities for the next year.

Read more:Steve Ballmer apologizes to fans, says Clippers will comply with NBA sanctions

After immediately calling the NBA’s investigation “biased” and vowing to “vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us,” the Clippers were silent for 11 days.

On Sunday night, they surrendered.

“I accept responsibility as principal owner,” Ballmer said in a three-paragraph, 172-word statement released by the team. “We are committing to put this chapter behind us. We have communicated to the NBA that we are complying with the penalties assessed by the league, have paid the fine, and are moving forward.”

Mark Francis, an associate teaching professor in sports business at the University of Oregon, said Ballmer’s decision to change course was a smart one — since fighting the penalties would only serve to prolong the scandal in the media, damaging the goodwill Ballmer has built up since buying the team in 2014.

“It’s the right thing to do,” he said. “We’re living in times where people don’t take accountability any more and I was actually impressed that he came out with that.

“Once they acknowledge fault, show some remorse, those kinds of things, then sometimes the penalties will be reduced.”

Read more:Swanson: Clippers avoid a death penalty with Kawhi Leonard trade, but only if they clean house

Daniel Durbin, director of the USC Annenberg Institute of Sports Media and Society, agreed, saying the original pushback “was all lawyer speak” while the decision to accept the penalties was prudent.

“It is a pretty stiff penalty. You’ve got a problem, just pay it off and get rid of it,” Durbin said. “And in a certain respect, Ballmer can pay this and move on. So it may well be for him … it’s not worth it to keep fighting, keep wasting money on that.”

Bloomberg estimates Ballmer’s net worth at $173 billion, making the former Microsoft chief executive the world’s ninth-richest person. He earns $1.2 billion annually from his Microsoft stock dividends alone.

In addition to the loss of draft picks and the fine and suspension levied on Ballmer, the NBA suspended Gillian Zucker, the Clippers president of business operations, for one year without pay and suspended Lawrence Frank, the team’s president of basketball operations, for six months without pay.

Read more:Read the NBA's investigation of the Clippers, Steve Ballmer, Kawhi Leonard

Leonard, a seven-time all-star forward and Southern California native, was traded back to the Toronto Raptors this summer. He agreed to pay a $700,000 fine for his role in the Clippers saga and did not contest the sanctions leveled against him but issued a statement of his own in which he placed the blame squarely on the Clippers.

“I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family,” the statement read. “I entered into my contract with the Clippers as well as the agreements in question in good faith, fully committed to fulfilling my obligations and with no knowledge of any intent on anyone’s part to circumvent the salary cap.”

The Raptors temporarily froze the Leonard trade after the NBA announced Toronto would inherit any penalties assessed to Leonard following its investigation. With Ballmer accepting the NBA penalties, the trade is now moving forward and the Clippers will receive All-Star forward Brandon Ingram, shooting guard Gradey Dick, two first-round draft picks, a pick swap and two second-round picks, building blocks that could help the franchise move forward amid the penalties.

Ballmer’s capitulation may actually be seen as a positive to some Clippers fans, Durbin suggested.

Read more:Plaschke: NBA drops the hammer on The Cheatin’ Clippers, and they can't shed the stink

“What did he confess to? Trying to kind of work around the rules to make the Clippers a championship team,” he said. “There’s a certain sense in which to Clippers fans the entire brouhaha is proof that he’s trying really hard. So while yes, he did break the rules … saying that you broke some rules to try to make your team a championship team is not in and of itself something that’s going to drive away the fan base.”

“It’s not a good thing,” Durbin added. “It’s an admission that maybe he went too far. … And he was willing to pay to try to make the team better.”

Francis isn’t so sure.

“I think that’s a stretch,” he said. “To violate the payroll system they have, it’s a serious offense. The owners are the ones that have pushed for these cost controls and they have to live up to them.”

Read more:Swanson: Kawhi Leonard is a Hall of Fame scam artist who deserves Clippers fans' boos

The question now becomes can the Clippers actually become better as they deal with the penalties.

L.A.’s No. 2 NBA team, well behind the Lakers in popularity and success, the Clippers have finished higher than fourth in the Pacific Division standings just once since Ballmer’s first season as owner in 2014-15 and have reached the conference finals only once. The team finished 10^th in the division last season, missing the postseason, and it hasn’t advanced beyond the first round of the NBA playoffs since 2021.

But the Lakers are in transition under new ownership and are without LeBron James for the first time since 2018, leaving the Clippers with a narrow window to win over new fans.

“They have to be able to threaten to be a championship team before you can say that they can take advantage of this moment,” Durbin said. “There’s the opportunity theoretically, but it’s really more about how smart they are on the draft picks, how smart they are on building the team.”

Times Sports Editor Iliana Limón Romero and staff writer Mirjam Swanson contributed to this report.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The second-oldest active player in basketball is no more, as OAKAAK Taj Gibson announced his retirement on Monday afternoon following his release by the New Orleans Pelicans last week. He will join the Chicago Bulls’ coaching staff under Tiago Splitter for 2026-27.

After 17 NBA seasons, Taj Gibson is retiring and returning to the Chicago Bulls as an assistant coach under Tiago Splitter to begin his coaching career. pic.twitter.com/K601XXGZe2

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 14, 2026

Gibson, a Brooklyn native, was selected No. 26 overall by the Bulls in 2009 out of USC. It was with Chicago that he spent the bulk of his career, debuting as an extremely old rookie at the age of 24 and growing into one of the best backup power forwards in the game.

He finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2010, fifth in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2012, and had the best season of his career in 2013-14, where he played all 82 games and averaged 13 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in a bench role, finishing as an extremely close runner-up to Jamal Crawford for Sixth Man of the Year.

It was in Chicago that he grew close to head coach Tom Thibodeau, a connection that would pay dividends down the road. Thibs coached the Bulls from 2010-15.

Shortly after he was canned, Gibson left Chicago as the Bulls entered a rebuild. He was traded to Oklahoma City in February 2017 with Doug McDermott and a 2018 2nd for Cam Payne, Anthony Morrow, and Joffrey Lauvergne. An interesting fact here: McDermott and the Bulls’ 2018 2nd would be flipped a few months later to the Knicks for Carmelo Anthony, and that 2nd became Mitchell Robinson.

He’d slide in next to Steven Adams as the Thunder’s starting power forward for the rest of the 2016-17 season in the first year of the post-KD era, but left in the offseason when Thibs’ new team in Minnesota came calling with a two-year, $28 million pact.

It was there that Taj emerged as a full-time starter as a grizzled veteran, posting 11.5 points and 6.9 rebounds across 153 games as a Timberwolf, but when Thibs was canned, he was out the door as well.

The most relevant chapter of his career to us came when he inked a two-year, $20 million contract with the Knicks in 2019 as part of the “four PFs” offseason in the aftermath of the KD/Kyrie disaster. David Fizdale and Mike Miller would utilize the 34-year-old as more of a center for the first time in his career, using him as a mentor for Robinson. He’d play just 16.5 minutes a game, but started 56 of the 62 games he played as a shield for a young and erratic Robinson’s foul trouble.

His team option was declined for 2020-21, but we should’ve read the tea leaves as soon as Thibodeau was hired as coach that summer. After the Nova Knick 1.0 prototype (Omari Spellman) fizzled out in the first week of January, Gibson returned to fill out the depth chart behind Robinson and Nerlens Noel.

This year marked the backstretch of Gibson’s career, where his experience and mentality were significantly more valuable than his on-court contributions. He would grow into a solid role off the bench, particularly when Robinson was injured.

With the Knicks surprisingly competitive, we suddenly saw the 35-year-old put into the spotlight when Robinson was ruled out for the season, and both he and Noel were stuck as overmatched bigs against Clint Capela and the Hawks. Of the 20 career playoff starts he had, three of them came in that first round series.

He was re-signed for 2021-22 and played a similar role, this time being forced to step up into a backup role due to Noel’s long-term injury. In a frustrating season for the team, he showed a new, interesting wrinkle to his game: shooting threes.

For the one time pic.twitter.com/MBJygr38rB

— Teg🚨 (@IQfor3) September 14, 2026

It looked like his time in New York was over when he signed with the Wizards in 2022-23, where he played 49 games as a vet for a very young and bad team, but he’d get one more chance to play for his hometown soon enough. When Robinson suffered a seemingly season-ending ankle injury in December 2023, it was Gibson who got a non-guaranteed contract to fill his shoes.

He’d be yo-yo’d around for the rest of the year, being released in mid-January to avoid guaranteeing his contract before inking a pair of 10-day contracts later in the season, but with Robinson’s unlikely return nearing ahead of the playoffs, Gibson played his final game as a Knick on February 14, 2024, going scoreless in nine minutes.

He finished his Knicks career averaging 4.9 points and 4.4 rebounds on 56.7% from the field in 175 games (64 starts) across four seasons. From there, he continued to be the token veteran on bad teams, playing four games in March 2024 for Detroit before signing one-year deals in both Charlotte and Memphis.

He hangs it up after playing 10 games for the Grizzlies down the stretch in 2025-26 before being traded in the Jordan Hawkins deal to the Pels, who subsequently waived him.

Gibson’s spot in Knicks lore is not that of someone who had an iconic moment that will be replayed forever, but as someone who was there as a transitional piece from the bright times to the bad times. Playing for the team he likely dreamed of playing for growing up, he transitioned from a starting caliber forward to an end-of-roster veteran, providing depth and experience.

People forget this, but Gibson is the only player aside from Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson whose Knicks career spanned from David Fizdale to the year 2024. He was there for LolKnicks, the We Here season, and (very briefly) the Brunson revival. Championships are not entirely built by the stars that finished the job, they’re fortified by players who built the foundation.

Maybe Gibson wasn’t a true foundational piece of the rise from irrelevance to competence, but he was a constant throughout it. It’s a great hire for a young Bulls team under an inexperienced head coach in Splitter.

Today is a very emotional day for me.

After 17 seasons in the NBA, I can honestly say I gave this game everything I had.

Basketball gave me the opportunity to live a dream. As a kid from Brooklyn, NY, I was lucky to get a chance to display my talent on the biggest stage. From… pic.twitter.com/tQAgHoUYl6

— Taj Gibson (@TajGibson) September 14, 2026

I’m here once again with a public service announcement to remind everyone not to believe everything they read on the internet. And to question motives behind some of the things you do see.

A couple of weeks ago, I warned about using LLMs and AI to do statistical data mining for you when it comes to basketball. Today, I’m warning you about prediction markets and their ability, and incentive, to manufacture a story out of almost nothing in an effort to get your attention, open your wallet, and put money into their systems.

We’re in the final dead stretch of the NBA offseason. Media days and training camps begin at the end of September, but until then, there simply isn’t much happening. Most transactions are complete. Rosters are largely set. Unless your team has suffered a major injury, which the Suns unfortunately have, there isn’t much real news to work with.

That isn’t going to stop prediction markets from trying to create some. Take what Kalshi NBA posted this weekend about Devin Booker and the supposed likelihood of him teaming up with Steph Curry, Steve Kerr, and the Golden State Warriors.

“I think the Warriors like [Booker] too much, if you ask me. Steve Kerr loves him,” Tim Kawakami recently stated on the Warriors Plus/Minus podcast. “Booker loved playing for Steve…I know the Warriors would be first in line saying, ‘We got three first-round picks we can give you’.”

"I think the Warriors like [Booker] too much, if you ask me. Steve Kerr loves him. Booker loved playing for Steve… I know the Warriors would be first in line saying, 'we got three first round picks we can give you,'" per @timkawakami. pic.twitter.com/hpyWve95CG

— Kalshi NBA (@KalshiNBA) September 13, 2026

To his credit, Kawakami is a respected journalist who covers the Golden State Warriors for The San Francisco Standard and has spent 35 years covering Bay Area sports. I’m sure he has sources within the organization who have told him the Warriors would have interest in Devin Booker. As someone who has a podcast himself, there are plenty of things I state that can be taken as speculative and/or out of context. But in the same breath, why wouldn’t the Warriors be interested? I might not have the same credibility, but I could go on my podcast tomorrow and say the Suns would have interest in Stephen Curry. Because of course they would.

That’s what makes this less about what Kawakami said on a podcast and more about what prediction markets did with it afterward. They took a relatively unsurprising piece of information and repackaged it in a way designed to generate engagement. That’s the part I find more concerning.

We’ve been living in the world of clickbait and engagement farming for nearly 2 decades now. The rise of the internet and the blogosphere fundamentally changed the way news is packaged and consumed, and prediction markets are simply another evolution of that same ecosystem. 

There’s nothing new about shocking headlines. They sold newspapers long before the internet existed. The more eyeballs you attract, the more opportunities you create for advertising revenue, subscriptions, bets, or whatever product you’re trying to sell. And once money becomes attached to attention, the incentives become dangerous. A point of view can be exaggerated. Context can be stripped away. A relatively mundane fact can be repackaged as something far more sensational because sensationalism generates clicks, clicks generate action, and action generates money.

What really catches my attention, and concerns me, is that Kalshi NBA is the one pushing this information. And they aren’t alone. Polymarket picked it up too.

The Warriors are reportedly big fans of Devin Booker and would be 'first in line' with a trade package should he ever be made available. 👀

(via @timkawakami) pic.twitter.com/8N3TstVPoG

— Polymarket Hoops (@PolymarketHoops) September 14, 2026

Both are federally regulated prediction markets where users can buy and sell yes or no contracts on everything from sports outcomes to politics, culture, climate, financial markets, and awards. Who wins the Nobel Peace Prize? What will the price of oil be? What team will Devin Booker play for next?

Yes, you can bet on Devin Booker’s next team.

And that’s where I start questioning the integrity of Kalshi NBA promoting something like this. Right now, their market has Booker staying with the Suns at 96%. The Warriors sit at 2%, with a payout around 31.2 times your wager. 

So Kalshi can amplify a quote suggesting Golden State has interest in Booker, generate attention around that possibility, and then direct people toward a market where they can put money behind the very idea being promoted. That’s the part that bothers me. You’re no longer simply reporting or reacting to news. You have a financial incentive to make the possibility itself feel more legitimate, more urgent, or more likely than it actually is because every person convinced that maybe there’s something there becomes a potential customer.

I don’t have an issue with throwing a few bucks on sports here and there. For plenty of fans, it adds a little juice to a game they otherwise wouldn’t care about. What frustrates me is when prediction markets begin pushing highly unlikely stories while also providing the platform where people can wager on those stories becoming reality. Is a symptom of the potential problems created when the people or entities capable of influencing a market can move it with a single post, statement, or action. Strange times we live in.

Then you combine all of that with the accessibility of gambling and the growing concerns around problem gambling. According to AddictionHelp.com, 5.3% of people in North America gamble at a problem level compared with 1.9% worldwide, and betting through a phone app roughly triples the odds of experiencing problem gambling symptoms compared with other forms of betting. Profit off of pain, a tale as old as time.

When there is already a financial incentive to keep people wagering, manufacturing urgency around speculative information becomes even more troubling. And on the surface, we already know the answer here. There is no meaningful evidence suggesting Devin Booker is about to become a member of the Golden State Warriors.

There’s nothing wrong with exploring what a hypothetical trade might look like. That’s offseason fodder. It passes the time and can create interesting conversations about roster construction, salary flexibility, and the direction of different franchises. Those exercises aren’t really about predicting the future. They’re conversation starters.

The problem comes when a prediction market takes that speculation, amplifies it, and then stands ready to profit when people decide to bet on it. That’s when harmless offseason speculation starts to feel like something else entirely.

That’s the distinction worth remembering. Speculation is supposed to create conversation, not manufacture confidence. When the same entity amplifying the possibility also benefits financially when you believe it, skepticism shouldn’t be optional. Ask who is telling you the story. Ask what they gain from your attention. Ask whether there is actual reporting behind it. Because when someone is selling you the rumor and the bet at the same time, the safest wager is probably keeping your money in your pocket.

Trading Kawhi Leonard did more than remove the Clippers’ best player. It eliminated their last convincing claim to having a franchise centerpiece.

That loss feels especially severe after the NBA punished the Clippers’ salary-cap violations with a $30 million fine, leadership suspensions and the forfeiture of five first-round picks.

While Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and Toronto’s draft compensation provide talent and flexibility, they do not immediately answer the more existential question confronting the organization: Who gives Clippers fans hope that this team is not doomed to wander the wilderness for the foreseeable future?

The face of a franchise does not necessarily have to be its leading scorer. In this moment, the Clippers need somebody who creates stability, supplies an identity and makes the NBA’s punishment feel like a setback instead of the beginning of a lost decade.

The next centerpiece should also represent a feel-good cleansing. After years spent chasing instant credibility through famous names carrying injury baggage or complicated reputations, the Clippers need somebody fans can embrace without reservation—not another tainted star acquired as an expensive shortcut.

The front-runners: Darius Garland and Brandon Ingram

Garland presents the strongest case.

The 26-year-old is a two-time All-Star under contract through 2027-28. After arriving in the James Harden trade, Garland averaged 19.9 points and 6.4 assists while shooting 43.8 percent from 3-point range across 19 games with Los Angeles.

As the point guard, he can supply something the Clippers desperately need: order. Garland will initiate the offense, determine its pace and touch the ball often enough to establish a recognizable identity. His age and contract also fit the near-term window.

The limitations are equally clear. Injuries restricted Garland to 45 games last season, his size creates defensive problems and he has never established himself as the best player on a contender. He may become the Clippers’ stabilizer without becoming their defining star.

Ingram, meanwhile, brings greater immediate scoring credibility. The former All-Star averaged 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists across 77 games last season, and his status as the principal veteran in the Leonard trade package naturally places him near the center of the new roster.

But Ingram is 29 and holds a player option for 2027-28 under his three-year, $120 million contract. He can lead the Clippers in scoring without representing their longer-term destination.

The upside candidates: Keaton Wagler and Gradey Dick

Wagler is the roster’s most compelling source of genuine hope.

The Clippers selected the 19-year-old guard fifth overall after he averaged 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists while helping Illinois reach the Final Four. His rise from lightly recruited prospect to one of the 2026 draft’s breakout stars provides the kind of developmental story a wounded fan base can embrace.

Of the four candidates, Wagler best fits the emotional requirements of a fresh beginning. He is also furthest from satisfying the basketball requirements. A promising Summer League cannot establish that a teenager who has never played a regular-season minute is prepared to rescue an NBA franchise.

Dick is an even longer shot. The 22-year-old former lottery pick possesses useful size and shooting ability, but his production fell from 14.4 points per game in 2024-25 to 6.0 last season. At this stage, he is a reclamation project rather than a building block.

The hard truth: Nobody

The Clippers currently have credible players, but nobody who combines proven production, upward trajectory and organizational staying power. Anyone of them could emerge, but none have the track record thus far.

That uncertainty could become its own temptation. Los Angeles could eventually package some combination of its young players, movable veteran contracts and newly acquired draft capital to pursue the next available superstar.

Landing the right one could accelerate the recovery. Reflexively chasing another famous name, however, could crater what should be a a full-scale exorcism of the franchise’s recent past.

The objective should not be to avoid stars. It should be to stop treating star power as a substitute for identity and sustainable growth. Turning every hopeful new piece into another aging, injury-prone or reputationally compromised headliner would merely restart the same cycle beneath a different billboard.

Garland and Ingram can make the Clippers functional. Wagler and Dick can make them interesting. None has yet demonstrated the ability to restore everything Leonard’s exit and the NBA sanctions stripped away.

For now, the Clippers have several faces of their transition. The face of their future still must emerge.

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The NBA trade involving the Los Angeles Clippers and the Toronto Raptors is official, according to ESPN.

Kawhi Leonard is being sent to Toronto, while the Clippers received forward Brandon Ingram, guard Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks (2031, 2033), two second-round picks (2030, 2033), and a 2027 first-round swap in the trade. 

The trade was initially agreed on and reported on June 30, 2026. The teams acknowledged the deal but held off on following through because of the ongoing investigation into the Clippers for salary cap circumvention that involved Leonard.

The NBA announced disciplinary action against the Clippers on Sept. 2, after an external law firm completed enough of its investigation and shared its findings with NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

As a result, the Clippers were given a $30 million fine and have to forfeit five first-round draft picks (2029–2033). Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and two of the team’s top executives were given suspensions.

Clippers-Raptors trade winners

Kawhi Leonard

The two-time Finals MVP is among the biggest winners. He managed to get out of Los Angeles and return to a place he’s familiar with in Toronto. He also received very little in terms of punishment from the NBA, being fined $700,000. The Raptors are expected to offer Leonard a contract extension.

Clippers

The team needs to hit the restart button, considering the loss of picks as a result of the investigation findings. The trade helps ease the burden of not having to go without too many first-round picks in the future.

Clippers-Raptors trade losers

Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick

The pair are among the biggest losers in the deal. They were left in limbo, spending most of the summer wondering what their basketball future would look like for the upcoming season and potentially beyond.

Ingram is expected to have a player option for the 2027-28 season.

Ingram is coming off a season wherein he averaged 21.5 points on 47.7% shooting from the field across 77 games played. Dick played in 76 games in his third season, averaging six points and 1.9 rebounds.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Clippers-Raptors trade winners and losers as Kawhi deal becomes official

After 2 ½ months of waiting, Kawhi Leonard is finally heading back to Toronto.

The Clippers and Raptors agreed to complete the trade sending Leonard to Toronto for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round draft picks (2031 and 2033), one first-round draft pick swap (2027) and two second-round picks.

ESPN first reported the two sides were moving forward with the deal.

The Clippers and Raptors still have to schedule a trade call with the league for the transaction to become official.

The trade falling into place came not even 24 hours after Clippers owner Steve Ballmer issued a statement Sunday evening saying he has “sincere regrets” and apologized to fans in the wake of the NBA punishing his franchise for circumventing the league’s salary cap by “initiating off-court income opportunities” for Leonard with four different companies.

The league dropped staggering punishments on the Clippers, fining the franchise $30 million, suspending Ballmer for one year and stripping the franchise of five first-round draft picks on Sept 2.

President of business operations Gillian Zucker (one year) and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank (six months) were also suspended for their roles in the scandal.

Ballmer didn’t explicitly apologize for the the Clippers’ cap circumvention, stating “there are still disagreements concerning the findings in the report” but that the franchise was complying with the penalties after the franchise initially issued a statement saying it “vehemently reject the NBA’s findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence.”

With the main leaders of the Clippers’ front office not permitted to be involved with the franchise, general manager Trent Redden led the Clippers in getting the trade over the finish line.

On June 30, two months before the NBA announced the penalties for the Clippers’ violations of the league’s salary cap rules, the Clippers agreed to trade Leonard to the Raptors for Ingram, Dick and the aforementioned draft picks.

The trade was put on hold on July 9 amidst the NBA’s investigation of the Clippers-Leonard scandal, with the Raptors stating it was going to wait until the league’s investigation was complete since they would’ve assumed the risk for any potential outcome of the investigation impacting Leonard. 

Leonard was in South Florida last week as part of an organized minicamp with Raptors players, but was a limited participant because the trade wasn’t official yet. 

The Clippers and Raptors have been able to co-submit the trade for league approval for it to become an official transaction for a while now, and they finally pulled the trigger Monday, 13 days after the league punished the Clippers.

The trade is being complete amidst federal prosecutors opening a criminal investigation into the franchise over allegations it circumvented the NBA’s salary cap.

It wasn’t clear what possible crimes federal prosecutors are investigating, or which people are the target of the federal inquiry. It also wasn’t clear whether criminal charges would come from the investigation.

The Department of Justice is the second government entity to investigate the Clippers-Leonard scandal.

Daktronics acting CFO Howard Atkins said during a recent earnings call with investors that the Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking information concerning the South Dakota-based company — which built the $100 million video board inside the Clippers’ Intuit Dome — and its relationship with Leonard. Daktronics, along with Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless and Lockton Insurance, was one of the four companies with endorsement deals with Leonard that were at the center of the NBA’s investigation.

Leonard was forced to pay the NBA $700,000 for restitution for improper benefits provided by the Clippers, while his uncle and former business manager, Dennis Robertson, has been banned by the NBA from all business dealings for five years.

The holding pattern is finally at an end. Kawhi Leonard is officially a member of the Toronto Raptors once again, and the Los Angeles Clippers can now start their stint in NBA purgatory.

Earlier this summer, the two teams agreed to terms on a trade that sent Leonard to Toronto in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, two second-round picks (2030, 2033) and a 2027 first-round swap to Los Angeles. That deal was put on pause to await the conclusion of the NBA's almost year-long investigation into the Clippers and Leonard.

The league investigation reached its conclusion Sept. 2, ruling that the Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer violated the league's collective bargaining agreement by facilitating side deals between Leonard and four companies in an effort to circumvent the salary cap. Severe punishments were handed out, but Leonard emerged relatively unscathed with a $700,000 fine. That cleared the way for the Raptors and what remains of LA's front office to move forward with the trade, which has now gone through according to ESPN.

Done deal: The LA Clippers and Raptors have both agreed to complete the trade sending Kawhi Leonard to Toronto for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, one first-round pick swap and two second-rounders, per ESPN sources. The sides will now schedule a… pic.twitter.com/c0lk5xUGJG

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 14, 2026

Here's exactly what the Clippers are getting in return for Leonard, and how the NBA's sanctions factor in:

Brandon Ingram

Ingram is no stranger to Los Angeles. The Lakers' No. 2 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft spent much of the early part of his career under the intense microscope that comes with playing for the purple and gold and showed enough flashes of potential that he was considered a centerpiece of the haul the New Orleans Pelicans received from the Lakers in the Anthony Davis trade in 2019. He was an All-Star in his first year with the Pels, but injuries kept him from being a consistent force, and New Orleans eventually shipped him off to Canada at the 2025 trade deadline.

The headliner of the return package, Ingram is coming off of his second career All-Star season after averaging 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 33.8 minutes in 77 games played in his first (and now only) season in Toronto. Those 77 games are notable because it's the most Ingram has played in a season since his rookie year a decade ago (79).

A smooth 6-8 wing, he's shown he can be a walking bucket when healthy and when paired with a true facilitator in the backcourt. Darius Garland checks that second box. As for the first one, that can only be determined in time.

Gradey Dick

Whereas Ingram is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, Gradey Dick is coming off of his worst.

The 6-8 wing out of Kansas was lauded during the 2023 draft as someone who could space the floor on offense and be a lockdown defender. His shooting hasn't exactly translated to the NBA, however. Dick shot a pedestrian 36.5% from 3-point range during his rookie season; that number dropped to 35% in 2024-25 and 30.1% last season as his usage dipped to a career-low 14.0 minutes per game. His player efficiency rating has yet to surpass 10.7 (league average is 15) and he carries a career box plus/minus of minus-4.

Dick has struggled during his first three seasons, but maybe a change of scenery – specifically to a team that has no immediate future of contending – is exactly what he needs to turn his career around.

Draft picks

This is the most important part of the trade for the Clippers. They get back two unprotected first-round picks, one in 2031 and 2033, two second-rounders in 2030 and '33 and a pick-swap in 2027.

How do NBA sanctions affect the trade?

Aside from delaying the trade from being completed for over two months? Significantly.

Arguably the biggest punishment (out of many) announced by commissioner Adam Silver was the forfeiture of five first-round draft picks. Starting in 2029, the Clippers have been stripped of one pick in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033. But since the Leonard trade technically hadn't happened yet, they'll still be able to receive the Raptors' first-rounders in '31 and '33 with no penalty, while forfeiting only their own picks. They also have a top three-protected pick swap with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2029 after forfeiting the unprotected pick they received from the Indiana Pacers that year for Ivica Zubac at last season's trade deadline.

Ingram and Dick are also two tradeable assets that the team has suddenly been strapped with after an offseason of roster overturn. Ingram has two years left on the three-year, $120 million extension he signed with the Raptors and has a player option for 2027-28. Dick is set to be a restricted free agent after this season, but with president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank suspended for six months, any major move seem unlikely.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kawhi Leonard trade to Raptors official. Here's how NBA sanction impacts Clippers return

Just in from Shams Charania: ESPN’s senior NBA insider has just announced that after gruelling months and massive league upheaval, the Kawhi Leonard trade has finally been completed, with Kawhi Leonard finally coming back North to rejoin the Raptors.

Done deal: The LA Clippers and Raptors have both agreed to complete the trade sending Kawhi Leonard to Toronto for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, one first-round pick swap and two second-rounders, per ESPN sources. The sides will now schedule a… pic.twitter.com/c0lk5xUGJG

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 14, 2026

The deal, as reported, remains the same as it was back in June, sending the forward to the Raptors in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, and a bevy of picks that will be used to bolster the Clippers’ now depleted war-chest in the wake of the judgement from the NBA that came earlier this September. Charania announced that today marked the date that the Clippers finally submitted their approval for the trade, allowing it to go through.

I have not been this excited since… well, since the trade was first announced. It’s going to be a good season, Raptors fans. While the Toronto Raptors have yet to announce the completion of the trade, more news will be coming, so be sure to check in at Raptors HQ for the most recent developments.

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As is seemingly a yearly tradition at this point, the NBA’s salary cap for next season will rise. This time, though, it’ll do so at an even higher number than anticipated, according to a report from Fred Katz of The Athletic.

“The NBA recently informed teams of its updated salary-cap projections for the 2027-28 season, league sources told The Athletic, with the new projections coming in $2 million higher than the league’s previous numbers,” Katz wrote.

This year, the salary cap is set for $165 million while the luxury tax will sit at $200 million. Both numbers will swell about 7%, according to Katz’s reporting.

“Those sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because the projections have not been made public, said the league is now projecting the 2027-28 salary cap will rise to $176 million and the luxury tax line will be $213 million,” he wrote.

The Los Angeles Lakers are a luxury tax team for 2026-27 and will presumably remain as such in 2027-28, though the increased projections certainly benefits their wiggle room.

If Jarred Vanderbilt exercises his $13.2 million player option, their payroll across just 12 players is $201 million. Granted, that includes team options for Dalton Knecht ($6.4 million), Jaden Hardy ($6 million), Adou Thiero ($2.5 million), and Bronny James ($2.4 million), which total $17.5 million.

Kevon Looney, Matisse Thybulle and Ziaire Williams are all on one-year minimum deals this season. The hope is they play well enough for the Lakers to want to retain their services, even if it pushes them into the luxury tax. They’ll certainly need at least a couple of them to flourish and help bolster the rotation, which may be a bit thin and could stand to have a few players solidify themselves as reliable mainstays.

You can follow Jackson on Twitter at @jackfrank_jjf.

Welcome to our Lakers Season Preview Series! For the next several weeks, we’ll be writing columns every weekday breaking down the biggest questions we have about every player the Lakers added this offseason. Today, we look atZiaire Williams.

A perfect storm of departing contracts afforded the Los Angeles Lakers an opportunity to officially move forward with a revamped team built around superstar Luka Dončić this summer.

Head coach JJ Redick and company had a specific identity in mind when crafting the new-look Lakers: defense, youth and athleticism. A young wing they took a flyer on who projects as a prototype that the franchise (and its fanbase) has desired for a while, Ziaire Williams, fits that mold perfectly.

The 25-year-old wing has spent the better part of his five-year career on middling teams and without a creator as talented as Dončić or Austin Reaves, who possess the ability to enhance the skills of the people around them. Despite the malaise one might play with on a team like the Brooklyn Nets, Williams produced some great tape and the stats back it up.

Defensively, the lanky 6-foot-9 Williams is the exact type of wing stopper you’d want to see next to Los Angeles’ star backcourt. He ranked in the 91st percentile in defensive matchup difficulty, 87th in perimeter isolation defense, 97th in passing lane defense and 96th in deflections per 75 possessions last season, all according to BBall Index.

He’s a consummate disruptor both on and off the ball and causes the exact type of chaos a defense needs to win; it’s just a matter of him doing it while on a team with serious aspirations.

Williams’ shortcomings offensively may just be a result of the lack of creation he’s shared the floor with. Not to mention, while in Brooklyn, he was often tasked with creating offense on his own, which detracted from his ideal role off the ball. The forward has a chance to really flash his skills as an off-ball spacer playing off of the natural gravity Dončić and Reaves create.

Williams shot 34.3% from beyond the arc last season, which ranked just in the middle of the league, and 33.9% on catch-and-shoot threes, which ranked even lower. Those numbers start to look reasonable when you consider the factors under which he was shooting the deep ball. According to BBall Index, he had an overall 3-point openness rating that graded out in the ninth percentile… ninth… along with a catch-and-shoot shot quality rating that slotted him in the 27th percentile. He will see better-quality 3-point opportunities with the Lakers, without question.

It’s natural to herald that Williams, given his skillset, age and physical ability, will turn into a better version of himself when surrounded by better talent, but it’s not a given.

What is his best-case scenario?

Redick has been itching to roster a player of Williams’ potential and ability. And he’s already had plans for him this offseason.

In an ideal world, Williams solidifies his spot on the roster by earning the highly coveted fifth spot in the starting lineup. He’s got a legitimate chance, too. He’s at a similar level defensively as Jarred Vanderbilt, but has a vastly superior offensive repertoire. If Jake LaRavia continues to struggle to knock down the deep ball, he and Williams will be even on that side of the ball, but Williams is significantly better defensively.

Williams has one of the best chances at breaking into the lineup, especially if Redick wants to counter a weak defensive backcourt with a versatile defense by fielding Quentin Grimes, Williams and Walker Kessler alongside Dončić and Reaves.

What is his worst-case scenario?

I don’t expect his defense to be the reason he’s played off the floor moving forward. He’s too gifted in that department for that to be the case. It all comes down to shooting.

How many players coming into Los Angeles with the promise of an ability to space the floor have fallen at the behest of the Crypto.com Arena lighting? LaRavia is a prime example. He arrived as a 42.3% 3-point shooter and had the worst perimeter shooting season of his career last season, shooting 32.1%.

What if all the talk about the subpar shot-creating talent Williams was playing with is all just wishcasting? If he continues to be a low-30s shooter from deep, it will be hard to justify having him out there in the role that many are hoping he can fulfill.

He was, after all, available for the minimum as a 24-year-old former 10th overall pick.

What is his likely role on the team?

Williams is an archetype many teams want. His youth and contract alone make him a justifiable swing to take.

His skillset will be used and needed on the Lakers this season. Williams will most likely have a pretty prominent role as one of the more versatile wings on the roster. Will he actually make a leap playing around supreme talent, or is the player the Nets and Memphis Grizzlies rostered just who he is?

You can follow Connor on Twitter at @cmorenoNBA.

Nearly 300 kids showed up Saturday to watch Dillon Brooks set up layup drills at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa.

This wasn’t a random appearance or a half-hearted community obligation. Suns veteran Dillon Brooks rolled straight from a media availability into on-court work with kids who came because they believe in what he’s building in Phoenix, and look up to him.

One of the instructors nailed it. With Brooks involved, “it just brings more people out.” That’s what star credibility does in a market. Kids show up. Parents pay attention. The Suns organization gets community penetration without forcing it.

READ: Suns’ Dillon Brooks says youth camp focuses on mental wellness, hoops

This matters because Brooks just signed a three-year, $73 million extension that locks him in Phoenix through 2029-30. That contract is a statement that Phoenix is investing in Brooks long-term, and this camp is a glimpse of proof that he is returning the favor.

Brooks is one of the most misunderstood players in the league, with the narrative centered on who he is on the court. As a person, you hear nothing but great things from every organization he’s been a part of.

Brooks recently returned from China, where he trained kung fu and worked with UFC fighters because, of course, he did.

This is a man committed to attacking his physical and mental ceiling. But what he emphasized at the camp tells you his real priority: mental wellness alongside basketball fundamentals. He talked directly about teaching kids early that their mental game controls everything, then connecting that to nutrition, body care, and stretch routines.

There are plenty of young Suns fans who look up to Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks in this community, so it’s always great to see players get involved and make a difference. More of this stuff as the headliners, please!

I wonder if he did his patented pre-game staredown at the camp. Will investigate more on this matter.