Category: Basketball

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.

It’s also why Leonard, the player who seemingly pocketed millions of dollars from those deals, is walking away mostly unscathed.

Did Leonard get off light? In short: yes, he did.

Leonard was fined $700,000 and can seemingly continue his career without interruption. There was no mention of the millions that landed via direct deposits through these dubious endorsements.

Yet, the issue, as outlined in a report published by New York-based law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, is a little more complicated. Essentially, the deeply flawed structure for discipline in this case allowed for Leonard to get a slap on the wrist. The burden skewed heavily toward the franchise, which therefore somewhat absolved the player.

Put another way: this case set a precedent where a player (or his representatives) can ask for the moon and the sky and the stars — the only real infraction is if the team does not report it, particularly if the organization are repeat offenders. The issue here for the NBA, and for the general optics of the situation, is that these penalties are set with the National Basketball Players Association in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, limiting the scope and severity of the NBA’s ability to sanction Leonard.

Yet, the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver stopped short of exercising his full authority, granted under Article XIII of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which grants him the ability to void Leonard’s contract in the case of salary cap circumvention.

Compare Leonard’s discipline to the onslaught facing the Clippers:

• The forfeiture of five first-round picks
• A $30 million fine
• A year-long suspension of the team owner from all league activities
• A year-long suspension without pay of the team’s president of business operations
• A six-month suspension without pay of the team’s president of basketball operations
• A five-year compliance and monitoring program

The NBA clearly wanted to make an example of Ballmer’s Clippers, who were also fined $250,000 in August 2015 for “violating NBA rules prohibiting teams from offering players unauthorized business or investment opportunities” in their pursuit of then-free agent center DeAndre Jordan.

But Leonard is no ordinary player. And the Clippers had languished in Los Angeles, under the massive shadow of the crosstown Lakers. The two teams even played in the same venue for 25 seasons.

The prospect of landing a franchise-altering player like Leonard — the pressure to claw from irrelevance — is massive and unforgiving. So when a player exercises undue leverage to finagle shady dealings the way Leonard did, it creates an environment that allows for (if not encourages) smaller market and less popular teams to bend the rules when a player makes those asks.

This is not to condone the Clippers; it’s to propose that the penalty to Leonard and future players match in kind.

“Integrity and respect for this game are fundamental to who I am,” Leonard said Wednesday in a statement released through his agent. “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.

“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.”

By limiting Leonard’s suspension to just a fine, the NBA seemingly avoided a battle with the players’ union, which likely would have argued that voiding Leonard’s contract would be a step too far, given that his trade to the Raptors is expected to be finalized soon. To be sure, voiding Leonard’s contract, which is in its final season, would create other headaches and ripple effects for the league to contend with — not to mention that it would represent a drastic measure against a player, one not seen since 2000, when former commissioner David Stern voided Joe Smith’s under-market deal after it was revealed he and the Timberwolves had entered an illegal secret agreement.

But then again, this is an unprecedented case, and the millions of dollars from the alleged no-show endorsement deals had to be going somewhere.

While $700,000 is life-changing money for most American households, it represents a fraction of Leonard’s $50.3 million salary for this upcoming season.

In fact, the fine represents just 1.4% of his pay this year and a staggeringly low 0.46% of the total value of his $149.5 million maximum extension signed in January 2024.

Granted, Dennis Robertson, Leonard’s uncle, was banned from doing any NBA business for five years, essentially becoming the latest fall guy.

But all of this prompts one massive question: where did all those millions of dollars from the no-show endorsement deals go?

A $700,000 fine doesn’t come close to answering that.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Did Kawhi Leonard get off light in the NBA's Clippers crackdown? | Opinion

Ideally, you don’t want an ownership change to come right in the middle of a restructuring of a front office and franchise philosophy. It tends to cause some issues.

The Lakers find themselves in an awkward position. The Dodgerizing of the front office was well underway when Mark Walter abruptly sold the team to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner.

While it has remained status quo with the hirings already made, whether those hirings continue will be one of the bigger questions. Dan Woike of The Athleticrecently provided some insight into how things are operating in the front office.

As he reported, the team hasn’t frozen all hirings as they posted a position for a video producer. However, the bigger roles are where things are less clear.

But other sources, including high-ranking ones, have acknowledged that high-end positions, particularly in basketball operations, aren’t actively being filled. While some people in the organization push back on the notion that the Lakers are in a “hiring freeze,” multiple sources acknowledged that it would be foolish for the organization to make hires of consequence while in this strange moment of its history.

On one hand, this is how things happen in any industry when there’s a new owner in charge. But at the same time, the Lakers, as noted, were in the middle of reshaping things and now are left in a weird limbo for the next few months.

Part of the uncertainty also stems from the fact that no one knows what the new owners’ philosophy will be. With Walter, he at least had a track record with the Dodgers that fans and the Lakers themselves could look at and set an expectation for what was in store.

Iger and Kushner have never done this before. Will they want to continue building out the front office? Will they want to cut costs like Tom Dundon in Portland?

All that leaves the Lakers in an awkward place, halfway through a rebuild but not fully there with no clue if there will be an end in sight.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.

In a decision we’ve been waiting nearly a year to hear, the NBA has finally ruled on the Los Angeles Clippers circumvention investigation. The case was originally uncovered by Pablo Torre and centered on Kawhi Leonard and Aspiration, a company that allegedly paid Leonard to serve as an ambassador while potentially functioning as a mechanism to provide him additional compensation outside of his Clippers contract.

The decision came down today. And the penalty was significant.

Per ESPN’s Shams Charania:

“The NBA has ruled on the Los Angeles Clippers in for salary cap circumvention investigations on Kawhi Leonard after yearlong probe — stripping the franchise of 5 first-round picks, issuing a $30 million fine to owner Steve Ballmer and suspensions for Ballmer, Lawrence Frank and Gillian Zucker, sources tell ESPN.

Kawhi Leonard will have to pay $700,000 in restitution for improper benefits by the Clippers for his uncle and former business rep, Dennis Robertson. No contract void or suspension for Leonard. And Robertson — who was fired by Leonard in June — is being banned by the NBA from all business dealings”

BREAKING: The NBA has ruled on the Los Angeles Clippers in for salary cap circumvention investigations on Kawhi Leonard after yearlong probe — stripping the franchise of 5 first-round picks, issuing a $30 million fine to owner Steve Ballmer and suspensions for Ballmer, Lawrence… pic.twitter.com/JCV5bI88BE

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 2, 2026

Further details, per Charania:

“The Clippers shall forfeit five first-round draft picks, one in each of the 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033 NBA Drafts.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is suspended from all league and team activities for one year for knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities, for approving a business deal that he knew was a precondition for Aspiration to enter into an endorsement agreement with Mr. Leonard, and for his failure to create conditions under which his organization abided by the NBA’s circumvention rules.

Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker is suspended without pay for one year for being primarily and directly culpable for the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for providing false and misleading statements to investigators.

Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank is suspended without pay for six months for his involvement with the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for approving impermissible expenses incurred by Mr. Leonard and his family.

The Clippers organization and personnel are subject to a compliance and monitoring program overseen by the league office for a period of five years.”

Let me start by saying holy shit. This is one of those events you will certainly remember for years to come, and if you support Clippers blue and red, you are devastated. I don’t envy anyone involved, from the fanbase to the front office, from The Wall to Ballmer’s crapper stall. This is a story of greed, rule-bending, deception, and corruption. It’s a black eye for the NBA and a death sentence in the City of Angels.

The Clippers are no longer a viable threat for more than half a decade moving forward. They’ve been stripped of assets and significantly limited in how they can operate. And for what? For a player who could help sell tickets and help usher in a new arena in Inglewood? For a team that still never made it out of the Western Conference, with its best chance coming in 2021 before the Phoenix Suns ended it? As if giving up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t a big enough kick in the gonads, they did all of this and won 23 playoff games in 7 seasons.

The tally for the Clippers getting Kawhi is now 10 first-round picks, two-swaps and SGA https://t.co/qi7S4XLNfA

— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) September 2, 2026

And hey, as Kellan Olson noted, the Suns no longer have the worst situation in the NBA.

Suns no longer have the worst draft pick situation in the league

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) September 2, 2026

As Carl Spacker once uttered, “So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice”.

The saga is over, and personally? I’m pleased with the result. Because it showcases accountability, something I wasn’t convinced we would fully see when this decision eventually came down. After all, Steve Ballmer is the richest owner in the NBA, and there was always the possibility that the league would hand down what amounted to a slap on the wrist for circumventing the cap. I’m no lawyer. This isn’t a court of law, it’s a court of opinion. But based on everything Pablo Torre reported, it certainly appeared there was enough evidence to suggest that something wasn’t right and that the spirit of the rules had been violated in Los Angeles. And now, apparently, that has been validated.

Again, that’s something I wasn’t convinced would happen. We live in a time where circumvention, lack of accountability, and corruption seem to run rampant in plenty of corners of the world. Apparently, you don’t need approval from Congress if you don’t call it a war, even when every opportunity is taken to call it a war, know what I mean? A lack of accountability compromises integrity, and that’s not only frustrating but also exhausting. Because so many people try to do things the right way. And when those who don’t are allowed to skate by without consequences, it wears on you.

That’s what I was worried about here. But it didn’t happen. It was nice for the system to work, at least from my narrow-viewed, uninformed perspective. It looks and feels like justice to me. If you try to cheat, you will get burned, as well you should. It’s a reminder that rules exist for a reason. Playing by them has value. It has merit. It has integrity.

I know what you’re thinking, and you’re not wrong. Who am I to step up on a pedestal and start spouting off about cap circumvention and integrity in the NBA? Maybe that’s fair. But I’ll tell you what I am. I’m a fan who watches this sport. I’m someone who believes in fair play, and I’m someone who wants to know that everyone is operating on an even playing field. From there, teams can make their mistakes. Trust me, as a Phoenix Suns fan, I know plenty about mistakes. The difference is that those mistakes were self-inflicted. They weren’t made by trying to cheat the system.

Of course, the parties involved lack some of that accountability. In a statement from Kawhi Leonard:

“Integrity and respect for this game are fundamental to who I am. 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.  

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.  

For 15 years, my priority has been giving everything to my family, the game, and those I share the court with. As I return to Toronto, I am focused on what I can control, closing this chapter, and moving forward with a clean slate.”

You may wonder where the accountability is for Leonard, considering $700,000 is essentially a rounding error to him and he won’t miss a single game. The decision was made by the team and the owner, not the player, although Leonard’s hands were certainly not clean in all of this. He is the one who cashed the checks.

The real punishment for Kawhi is that this is a legacy tarnisher. We probably won’t see the full implications of this today. Leonard will play basketball, collect his money, and eventually move on to the next season. But this story is going to follow him. Years from now, when people talk about Kawhi Leonard and his career, this will be part of the conversation. It will be referenced when his legacy is discussed. Father Time has a funny way of stripping away the noise and leaving behind the things that mattered. Trust me, he is going to look poorly upon Leonard’s role in this story.

And then there’s the Clippers themselves:

“We 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. What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure it’s fairness and accuracy.  

For the past year, we cooperated fully and in good faith and we will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence.  

We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process.”

What else would you expect them to say? Challenge it all you want, but the NBA doesn’t have an appeals process for this. The league made its decision, handed down the penalty, and that’s where it ends. There isn’t another door to knock on.

It’s a complex process, a complex investigation, and one that took nearly a year to complete. Perhaps it was a witch hunt. Perhaps the Clippers were presumed guilty rather than innocent. Those arguments will exist. But the fact remains that when you put yourself in bad situations, bad things can happen. And without a doubt, that is what occurred with the Clippers.

As a fan of the sport, I’m pleased that perceived accountability ultimately won out. We finally have an example where you can’t simply throw money and lawyers at a situation, circumvent the rules, and walk away scot free. You cheated. And this time, there were consequences.

That’s ultimately what matters here. Not whether the Clippers agree with the findings, or whether Ballmer can afford the $30 million. Umm…he can. The NBA investigated, reached a conclusion, and handed down consequences with actual teeth. Five first-round picks are gone. Executives are suspended. The franchise will carry this with it for years. Rules only matter when breaking them costs you something. The Clippers found out exactly what that cost looks like.

It’s time for our next category of Spurs villains. This time, we’re looking for your votes on Spurs haters. These are the people who have made it a priority to take a dig at the Silver and Black, on or off the court. Readers will vote for the biggest villain in a poll, and the winner of each match-up will advance to the next round, with the eventual winner crowned as the Biggest Spurs Villain of all time. Let’s get to the voting!

1. Phil Jackson vs. 8. The 2025/26 New York Knicks

Some villains are just annoying. Others make you sad. This matchup elicits both emotions.

Phil Jackson has never gained back the goodwill of the fan base since saying their lockout-season 1999 title has an asterisk next to it. What’s always made me laugh about this statement is that it came right after the Spurs swept Jackson’s Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. Sounds a lot like jealousy if you ask me.

The New York Knicks are new to this list. It’s not just the NBA Finals loss, but the victory lap that followed. Quotes from Knicks players talking about the Spurs taking them for granted, or New York fans clowning on Victor Wembanyama, sting a little bit more after already losing a seemingly winnable Finals. These are budding villains in Spurs history. San Antonio will look for revenge on Christmas Day this year.

2. David Stern vs. 7. Tony Allen

David Stern is a fascinating character in the league’s history. He was a stronger commissioner than Adam Silver, often taking control of a situation rather than letting it play out. One of those situations was “rest gate,” when Stern fined the Spurs $250k for sitting their best players for a nationally televised game. It’s not like they are the only franchise that has done that. And of course, there was his infamous implication that the Spurs’ success was hurting the league’s ratings by saying if he had his way, all Finals would be Celtics vs. Lakers.

Tony Allen was both a defensive pest and made some interesting comments about the Memphis Grizzlies’ upset of the Spurs in 2011. He said Memphis lost their last two regular-season games on purpose to match up with San Antonio, saying they liked their chances against the 60-win Spurs. That post-win gloating makes the loss sting even more.

3. Mark Cuban vs. 6. Jason Terry

We have a pair of Dallas Mavericks in the 3 vs. 6 matchup.

From the moment Cuban bought the Mavericks, he made himself a constant thorn in San Antonio’s side. He seemed determined to personally participate in the historic rivalry. The Spurs and Mavericks played some of the most intense playoff basketball of the 2000s and 2010s, and Cuban was always in the crowd to add to the fiery atmosphere.

Terry was a key part of the Mavericks’ rivalry with San Antonio, helping Dallas knock out the defending champion Spurs in a brutal seven-game series in 2006. He was also one of the most outspoken and antagonistic Mavericks, regularly getting under the Spurs’ skin. And, of course, there’s the infamous Game 5 incident when Terry struck Manu Ginóbili below the belt.

4. Uncle Dennis vs. 5. Shaquille O’Neal

What a fitting time to talk about Uncle Dennis! He finally got his comeuppance after meddling in Kawhi Leonard’s NBA life for decades. The Aspiration scandal aside, Dennis really set the Spurs on a bad path after weaseling Leonard to Toronto and eventually Los Angeles. He will always be one of the most hated Spurs villains, but hey, at least San Antonio got Wembanyama out of the deal.

Speaking of Wembanyama, Shaq’s take on him has been both infuriating and hilarious. The constant Bol Bol comparisons are laughable, but have just enough rage bait to make him a Spurs villain. But what really made Spurs fans hate him early on was his story that Mr. Nice Guy David Robinson snubbed him as kid when he asked for an autograph. No one believed him then, and he eventually admitted he made it all up to motivate himself in their match-ups.

The long-awaited results of the NBA's investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers' alleged salary cap circumvention practices were finally released on Wednesday, Sept. 2, and the fallout is just beginning.

Among the punishments handed out, the Clippers must forfeit five first-round draft picks and pay a $30 million fine. Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers' superstar at the heart of the scandal, has been fined $700,000. Additionally, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and president of business operations Gillian Zucker have been suspended by the league for one year. Lawrence Frank, the team's president of basketball operations, has been suspended for six months.

The official investigation report from the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz explicitly lays out why the organization is facing the brunt of the penalties. Throughout the 36-page document, investigators state the three individuals most responsible for the Clippers’ rule-breaking are Ballmer, Zucker and Frank, and call out the organization for obfuscating the investigation's efforts.

The report also notes investigators "continue to receive information relevant to the subjects discussed in this report" and will supplement their findings as appropriate. Wachtell Lipton said it conducted 73 interviews of 60 people and reviewed 200,000 pages of documents.

Here are 13 must-read segments from the investigation. Each is quoted directly from the report.

1. "Investigators endeavored to conduct their work as expeditiously as possible. This effort was challenged by, among other things, the approach of the Clippers and their outside counsel, who at times delayed in responding to requests for information and operated in an adversarial or obfuscatory manner that slowed investigators' ability to gather the facts."
2. "Over the course of the investigation, Ms. Zucker made several statements that proved inconsistent with contemporaneous documents, other witness statements, and the broader chronology of events, professed a lack of recollection on important issues, placed responsibility on subordinates, and offered inconsistent renditions of facts in separate interviews. By contrast, Mr. [Lawrence] Frank openly discussed with investigators his conduct from the relevant time period, recalled details of key events, took responsibility for the actions of subordinates, and was generally consistent across his interviews. While the determination of any consequences for the rules violations described herein lies with the NBA, investigators believe that it would be appropriate in making such determinations to take cooperation and credibility – or the lack thereof – into account."
3. "The Clippers were especially aware of the CBA’s circumvention rules in this area because the NBA had previously found that the team violated them. In 2015, in circumstances similar to the matter at hand, the Clippers engaged in efforts to facilitate an endorsement agreement between DeAndre Jordan – a player the Clippers were then seeking to sign in free agency – and an incoming team sponsor. The League investigated this matter, determined that the rules had been broken, and fined the Clippers $250,000."
4. "The Clippers were also aware of circumvention concerns specifically related to Mr. Leonard. In July 2019, Mr. Leonard became a highly sought-after free agent after winning the NBA championship with the Toronto Raptors. In his dealings with the Clippers and several other interested teams, Mr. Robertson (on Mr. Leonard’s behalf) made numerous requests for benefits that were prohibited under the CBA, including equity in teams, housing, access to private transportation, and off-court income such as endorsement deals. Mr. Leonard ultimately signed a player contract with the Clippers. The NBA subsequently questioned the Clippers about these matters, and the team – while acknowledging Mr. Robertson’s improper requests – denied agreeing to accommodate them. The NBA’s investigation of the team was left open pending receipt of further evidence." 
5. "The Clippers advanced a novel theory addressing one part of the conduct at issue here: that NBA rules permit affirmative (not responsive) introductions of players to business partners for the purpose of helping them generate off-court income if such introductions are requested by the player or his representative. The Clippers offered no persuasive explanation for how this theory comports with the clear language of the circumvention rules referenced above, the correct understanding of the rules previously expressed by Mr. Ballmer, Ms. Zucker, and Mr. Frank, or the fundamental purpose of the CBA’s circumvention rules to prevent teams from providing outside income opportunities for players. The Clippers’ position is particularly suspect, as will be described further below, because the team took pains to ensure that its 'introduction' emails to team partners were written to appear to be “responsive” to requests from those partners."
6. "In early June 2020, at the time of Ms. Zucker’s 'introductions,' none of Boingo, Daktronics, and Lockton had commercial agreements with the Clippers, but all three companies were in active discussions to provide business services to the team or its arena. Within weeks following the 'introductions,' either before or on the same day as the companies signed endorsement agreements with Mr. Leonard, each company entered into a multi-million dollar consulting agreement with the Clippers. Two of the companies received almost the entirety of their consulting fees up front – in payments of $10 million each, delivered prior to these companies entering into endorsement agreements with Mr. Leonard."
7. "Ms. Zucker had personal relationships at two of the companies. At one, her husband was chair of the board of directors during the relevant time period, and she also had a 30-year working relationship with that company’s CEO. At another, Ms. Zucker had a longstanding relationship with the company’s president (the person who signed the company’s endorsement deal with Mr. Leonard), and she recommended him as “really good people” in an email to an internal colleague charged with the process of securing services for the Clippers in this area."
8. "The facts surrounding the Daktronics-Leonard endorsement agreement make the conclusion explicit: that company’s agreement with Mr. Leonard was not arranged independently of the Clippers, by virtue of Daktronics’ affirmative interest in Mr. Leonard’s services as an endorser or as a result of any request it made to Ms. Zucker for an “introduction.” Rather, investigators conclude, it was procured by the Clippers in exchange for other business that the team would and did supply to Daktronics. ... Daktronics believed that failing to enter into a commercial relationship with Mr. Leonard could jeopardize its ability to win the bid for the Intuit Dome."
9. "Investigators note, however, that the Clippers’ misconduct may have been even more severe. As set forth above, the timing of the three endorsement agreements with Mr. Leonard coincides with each of the companies receiving multi-million dollar payments from the Clippers, purportedly in connection with business to be provided by these companies to the team. But these payments may in fact have been made principally to fund the endorsement deals with Mr. Leonard."
10. "During the investigation, it was discovered that the Clippers had made such payments on behalf of Mr. Leonard, his family, and Mr. Robertson during Mr. Leonard’s tenure with the team. A detailed analysis then followed, substantiating hundreds of instances in which the team paid for personal air and ground travel, accommodations, gifts, and tickets without then properly deducting the amounts of these expenditures from Mr. Leonard’s pay (as it was required to do by CBA rules)."
11. "The NBA’s rules enforcement initiative also included a training session on the CBA’s circumvention rules conducted with each team and its senior leadership. On December 4, 2019, in the same time period as the misconduct detailed in this report, the League provided this training to the Clippers, including Mr. Ballmer, Ms. Zucker, Mr. Frank, and other team personnel."
12. "Mr. Robertson communicated a target: he expected the Clippers’ assistance in obtaining approximately $10 million per year for Mr. Leonard. He communicated these demands primarily to Mr. Frank, but also to Mr. Ballmer and Ms. Zucker. There is no evidence that any of these individuals told Mr. Robertson to stop making such improper requests or – as required by NBA rules – reported them to the NBA."
13. "In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the NBA. In April 2020, Mr. Robertson spoke with Mr. Ballmer and Mr. Frank to express his frustrations about what he perceived to be a lack of effort by the Clippers to facilitate off-court business opportunities for Mr. Leonard. According to contemporaneous notes kept by Mr. Frank."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The 13 most damning details you must read from NBA's report on Clippers

The NBA’s $30 million penalty was aimed at the Clippers.

The five missing first-round picks were a warning to every billionaire owner like Steve Ballmer.

By hammering Los Angeles for circumventing the salary cap through off-court opportunities for Kawhi Leonard, the NBA did more than punish one franchise. It drew a boundary around one of the biggest advantages available to modern owners: the enormous business networks surrounding their teams.

According to the 36-page report from independent investigator Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, that boundary was hardly ambiguous.

NBA rules prohibit teams from actively creating endorsement opportunities for players. Investigators found the Clippers crossed that line, steering Leonard toward four companies doing business with the franchise and using Clippers business to help induce those deals.

The clearest example involved Daktronics. While competing for the Intuit Dome scoreboard contract, the company was encouraged to include a Leonard endorsement worth $3 million annually. Investigators said Daktronics believed refusing could jeopardize its Clippers business.

That is exactly the type of leverage that poses a problem for a salary-capped league — and the potential danger had already surfaced while the NBA was still investigating the relationships between Leonard, the Clippers and team sponsors.

The cap is designed to keep the richest owners from simply buying better rosters. But modern sports billionaires possess financial power far beyond payroll: sponsors, corporate relationships, arenas, real estate and multiple franchises.

That concentration was on display in Los Angeles just one day before the Clippers ruling, when Rams owner Stan Kroenke agreed to purchase the Angels for a record price of more than $3.9 billion.

There is no suggestion Kroenke has done anything improper. But adding the Angels to an empire already featuring the Rams, Nuggets, Avalanche, Rapids and Arsenal illustrates how much business influence can surround a single ownership group.

Private equity is accelerating the same trend. As franchise valuations soar — highlighted recently by the Lakers’ record $12.5 billion sale — leagues have increasingly opened their doors to institutional capital, further connecting teams to sprawling networks of investors and businesses.

The result is a sports economy populated not simply by rich owners, but by interconnected webs of billionaires, investment firms, sponsors and corporate partners.

The Clippers had also been warned about this territory before. The NBA fined them $250,000 in 2015 for improperly facilitating an endorsement opportunity for DeAndre Jordan.

After Dennis Robertson made prohibited requests during Leonard’s 2019 free agency, the league launched a broader enforcement initiative and personally trained Ballmer, Lawrence Frank and Gillian Zucker on its circumvention rules. All three later told investigators they understood them.

That history helps explain why the NBA eventually dropped one of its harshest organizational punishments ever: five first-round picks, suspensions, five years of monitoring and the $30 million fine.

Draymond Green predicted the stakes before the ruling.

“If the punishments aren’t steep, everybody should do it,” Green said.

The NBA clearly saw that as a concern.

It can’t cap an owner’s wealth. But it can make sure that wealth doesn’t become a second payroll.

Nearly a year to the day that Pablo Torre published his first episode reporting on the Kawhi Leonard cap circumvention saga with a company called Aspiration, the league has finally doled out punishment to both Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers certainly came away worse for wear than the All-NBA forward they signed back in 2019. Per Shams Charania of ESPN, they were stripped of five first round draft picks, given a $30 million dollar fine to governor Steve Ballmer, as well as suspensions for Ballmer and executives Lawrence Frank and Gillian Zucker. Leonard was hit with a measly $700,000 dollar fine while Dennis Robertson, his uncle and former agent, was banned by the NBA from all business dealings.

BREAKING: The NBA has ruled on the Los Angeles Clippers in for salary cap circumvention investigations on Kawhi Leonard after yearlong probe — stripping the franchise of 5 first-round picks, issuing a $30 million fine to owner Steve Ballmer and suspensions for Ballmer, Lawrence… pic.twitter.com/JCV5bI88BE

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 2, 2026

So here’s how these different punishments will affect the Sixers, because there are several ways they could. Obviously, the Clippers owe the Sixers a first-round swap in 2029, the year Charania reported the Clippers will begin to be stripped of draft picks.

The good news is that won’t be impacted by this punishment. Zach Lowe of The Ringer reported that the 2029 first rounder that will be stripped from the Clippers will be the Indiana Pacers’ first rounder owed to them from the trade that sent Ivica Zubac to Indiana. After Lowe’s report, both Derek Bodner of PHLY and Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice confirmed that the Sixers’ pick swap will remain intact.

Emergency ZL Show coming later tonight, but one detail for now — sources say that in 2029 the Clippers will be forfeiting the Indiana Pacers pick obtained via the Zubac trade, but that the pick will not be returned to the Pacers.

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) September 2, 2026

The Sixers remain in control of the pick swap, but it hasn’t gotten any easier to project how valuable that will be. With the new lottery rules in place, it feels impossible to predict so far out. The Clippers are a team that hasn’t really tanked since Ballmer bought them, and they certainly won’t be incentivized to without control of any of their picks.

Still, they were a team that wasn’t able to get out of the Play-In tournament, and now it seems they’ll officially be replacing Leonard with Brandon Ingram. The Toronto Raptors re-acquired Leonard in a trade early in the offseason, but the league put that deal on hold until the cap circumvention investigation was completed. Now that it has without Leonard’s contract being voided or suspended, there’s nothing stopping his return to Toronto. In the statement he released to Charania, Leonard expressed his desire to move forward with a clean slate in Toronto.

So as we preview the Eastern Conference, it’s time to finally sharpie Leonard into that Raptors roster. He presents just as many, if not more injury concerns for getting through the playoffs as this Sixers roster does. But a 46-win team swapping out Ingram for Leonard certainly won’t be getting worse.

The Clippers received one of the harshest punishments in NBA history.

Kawhi Leonard did not.

Despite being found in violation of the same salary-cap rules, he escaped with comparatively little damage.

That contrast has become the biggest question following the league’s salary-cap circumvention ruling, which cost Los Angeles five first-round picks and hit owner Steve Ballmer with a $30 million penalty. Ballmer, Lawrence Frank and Gillian Zucker were also suspended.

Leonard owes $700,000 in restitution. He wasn’t suspended. More importantly, his contract survived.

The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement and the findings of its yearlong investigation help explain how Leonard landed so softly.

The league hired Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate how the Clippers helped generate lucrative off-court opportunities for their star.

Under Article XIII of the CBA, players can be fined, forced to return improper benefits or have their contracts voided for circumvention. The provision allowing suspensions of up to one year, however, specifically applies to team personnel.

So Leonard avoiding suspension isn’t the biggest surprise.

The real escape was keeping his contract.

And that may come down to what investigators could — and could not — prove Leonard personally knew.

Wachtell found Leonard violated the CBA through Dennis Robertson, his uncle and former business representative, who repeatedly pushed Clippers officials to create outside income opportunities for Leonard.

Leonard was hardly unaware of the money.

He signed lucrative endorsement deals generated through those efforts and personally requested changes to the cash and equity structure of his proposed Aspiration agreement.

But the investigation draws an important line between knowing the deals existed and knowing how the Clippers were making them happen.

Wachtell did not find that Leonard personally knew the Clippers were directing business toward companies in exchange for benefits flowing back to him. It also stopped short of concluding Leonard understood that those arrangements amounted to salary cap circumvention.

That gap proved extremely valuable.

Robertson made the demands. Clippers executives worked to satisfy them. Leonard received the benefits.

But Robertson’s position between Leonard and the organization made it considerably harder to establish how much of the machinery Leonard himself understood.

In effect, Robertson became a buffer — and now, whether intentionally or not, something resembling a fall guy.

The report does not say Leonard deliberately used his uncle that way. But Robertson is the person whose conduct established Leonard’s violation while simultaneously providing Leonard separation from the conduct investigators considered most serious.

The assignment of blame drives that point home.

Wachtell identified Ballmer, Zucker and Frank — not Leonard — as the three people “most responsible” for the violations. Robertson, whom Leonard fired in June, has since been banned from NBA business dealings.

Leonard therefore emerged in an unusual position: Investigators determined that his representative broke the rules on his behalf and that Leonard received the resulting benefits, yet they stopped short of finding that Leonard knowingly participated in the Clippers’ method of circumventing the cap.

That distinction appears to have saved him from much worse.

It doesn’t mean Leonard was cleared. He wasn’t.

It means the evidence created enough separation between Leonard and the mechanics of the scheme that the NBA chose not to impose the most severe player-specific remedy available to it.

Robertson may not have been Leonard’s intentional fall guy, but he became an effective buffer.

The Clippers took the full force of the punishment. Leonard kept his contract, avoided suspension and largely walked away with the damage contained.

The NBA issued stiff penalties for the Los Angeles Clippers, team owner Steve Ballmer and their former star forward Kawhi Leonard on Wednesday, Sept. 2, after an 11-month investigation found they violated salary cap circumvention rules.

The league levied fines of $30 million for the Clippers and $700,000 fine for Leonard, who denied any knowledge of wrongdoing but said he will accept the penalties.

Additionally, the NBA suspended Ballmer from all league activities for the next year; team president of business operations Gillian Zucker for one year without pay; and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank for six months without pay.

"I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers’ institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in statement. "The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations."

The Clippers denied the league's findings, calling it "a biased investigation" and said they would challenge the findings and punishments.

Here's what the Clippers' draft pick situation looks like for the foreseeable future.

Clippers first-round picks

The Clippers will forfeit five first-round draft picks in the coming years.

Which draft picks did Clippers lose?

The Clippers lost their first-round picks in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033.

Can the Clippers draft in 2027?

Technically, yes, via a pick swap. The Oklahoma City Thunder have the right to swap with the Clippers if LA's draft position, based on record and lottery results, is more favorable than either OKC's slot or Denver's pick, which is top-five protected.

Lorenzo Reyes contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Clippers' punishment forces forfeiture of first-round draft picks. What's left?

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 serious indeed.

BREAKING: The NBA has ruled on the Los Angeles Clippers in for salary cap circumvention investigations on Kawhi Leonard after yearlong probe — stripping the franchise of 5 first-round picks, issuing a $30 million fine to owner Steve Ballmer and suspensions for Ballmer, Lawrence… pic.twitter.com/JCV5bI88BE

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 2, 2026

It’s a huge penalty for the Clippers, who will forfeit their first-round picks from 2029 to 2033. That’s almost as much as they gave up to get Paul George! The Clippers’ 2027 and 2028 firsts are already encumbered by trades, so they’ll lose the next five, leaving them with only the Indiana Pacers’ pick in 2029 and the Toronto Raptors’ draft picks in 2031 and 2033.

Leonard’s own punishment was only a $700K fine, so presumably the Raptors will no longer object to completing their earlier deal for The Claw, and he can move on to no-show deals with Tim Horton’s, Canada Dry, and Molson’s.

The NBA’s nearly year-long investigation “found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organization.” Those violations included:

● Affirmatively initiating off-court income opportunities between Mr. Leonard and four companies doing business with the team: Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics, and Lockton Insurance;

● Facilitating endorsement agreements between these companies and Mr. Leonard;

● Inducing the companies to enter into these agreements by offering them business from the team;

● Paying personal expenses on behalf of Mr. Leonard and his representatives; and

● Failing to report improper solicitations for off-court income opportunities made on Mr. Leonard’s behalf through his then-business manager, Dennis Robertson.

Ballmer and the Clippers had loudly proclaimed their innocence as to any wrongdoing in Leonard’s $28M endorsement deal with Aspiration, the now-defunct tree-planting/climate credits company that was a big Clippers sponsor. That deal apparently didn’t require Leonard to do anything to reap tens of millions, whether it was to post about the company or plant one single tree, and it was never announced publicly, which seems contrary to the idea of celebrity endorsements.

Journalist Pablo Torre has been all over the story since it began, also pointing out the questionable endorsement deal Leonard had with Daktronics, a scoreboard manufacturer that didn’t have any other celebrity endorsements — since they make gigantic scoreboard displays. The NBA’s investigation, conducted by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, also found previously unreported illegal deals with Boingo Wireless and Lockton Insurance worth $18M in total.

Yes, Kawhi wasn’t doing ads for them either, and none of them was reported publicly. The three companies became paid consultants for the Clippers at the same time as they reached endorsement deals with Leonard, with two of them receiving immediate payments of $10M in “consulting fees.” Why they needed consultation with Boingo Wireless remains unexplained.

Not only did the Clippers have to forfeit five first-round picks, the same punishment given to the Minnesota Timberwolves a quarter century ago for making an illegal secret deal with Joe Smith, Ballmer and the Clippers head of business operations, Gillian Zucker, are suspended for a year. President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was suspended for six months. Zucker and Frank’s suspensions are unpaid, but Ballmer will surely be able to find them some endorsement opportunities to make up for the lost income.

Now the Clippers are rebuilding around an uninspiring young core of Darius Garland, Brandon Ingram, and No. 5 pick Keaton Wagler, but precious little else. It’s an open question whether head coach Ty Lue will want to hang around, though he’s reportedly signed for three more seasons. The Clippers will also have to motivate themselves without the NBA’s most enthusiastic and sweatiest owner sitting courtside, relying instead on THE WALL, a Clipper-fans-only section behind one basket that honestly might have trouble filling its seats.

Who are the big winners? Adam Silver, who stood up to the richest owner in the league and came down with an old-school punishment worthy of David Stern, if not Kennesaw Mountain Landis himself. There’s Pablo Torre, who led the way on the story and was vindicated tremendously by the league’s ruling. There’s the Raptors, who get Leonard without his contract being encumbered. And there’s Leonard himself, who seems to have escaped cheaply by only drawing a $700K fine for taking what may have been tens of millionsof dollars.

Who are the losers? Steve Ballmer is the biggest one. We’d say the Clippers, but this is just one in a series of embarrassments that have defined the franchise since it moved out of Buffalo. Clippers fans don’t expect good things.

Mark Cuban, one of the most vocal Ballmer defenders, has to be considered a loser, as do Ramona Shelburne, Don Van Natta, and Baxter Holmes of ESPN, who confidently reported that the NBA had nothing on the Clippers just two weeks ago. Shelburne also hosted a softball interview with Ballmer a year ago on ESPN that was embarrassing at the time and even more so in hindsight.

Steve Ballmer:

"Pablo's podcast I don't know anything about the court documents on this. I haven't seen them and I don't know. The speculation is what it is. They conned me. I made an investment in these guys" https://t.co/5HqOZF5z9Apic.twitter.com/iqI1kYMZHL

— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) September 5, 2025

The investigators called Ballmer’s statements during that interview that the Clippers “weren’t involved” in Leonard’s Aspiration deal “inaccurate (at best) with respect to Mr. Ballmer and clearly false with respect to Ms. Zucker.”

To his credit, Cuban took the L Wednesday.

Congrats Pablo. https://t.co/fOUfnbIlVw

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) September 2, 2026

Who did not take the L? The Clippers, who continue to deny any wrongdoing and threaten to sic their lawyers on the NBA.

Statement from the Clippers: We 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. What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today… https://t.co/HDgzD45qC3

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 2, 2026

Do we know why the NBA is biased against the Clippers? We’re sure the Clippers will explain, just like they’ll provide a reasonable explanation for team sponsors secretly giving millions of dollars to the superstar to do nothing as they’re also receiving massive consulting fees from the team.

The evidence is more damning than anyone realized, and the punishment is worse than anyone expected. Maybe not all billionaires believe that they can do whatever they want, but the billionaire who owns the Clippers clearly did. For the Warriors, their richest division rival has been seriously weakened.

Ultimately, Adam Silver was Steph Curry in this investigation, and Steve Ballmer was Chris Paul.

This crossover from Steph Curry on Chris Paul was cold 🥶 pic.twitter.com/mYzrHpXrBR

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) March 20, 2020

The LA Clippers have been fined $30m (£22.2m) by the NBA for violating salary rules in order to funnel millions of dollars to star player Kawhi Leonard.

The fine - the largest in the league's history - comes after the NBA report said Leonard pressured the Clippers into "obtaining off-court income opportunities [and] successfully obtaining those opportunities".

The investigation was opened in September 2025 when podcast journalist Pablo Torre reported that a $28m (£20.8m) endorsement contract between Leonard and Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC could have broken league rules.

The Clippers will also have to forfeit five first-round draft picks between 2029 and 2033, while owner Steve Ballmer has been suspended from all league and team activities for 12 months for his role in matters involving Leonard's sponsorship contracts.

Two-time NBA champion Leonard has been fined $700,000 (£520,000) by the league.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he was "deeply disappointed" by the Clippers' "flagrant violations" of the rules and said the "severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations".

Clippers president of business operations Gillian Zucker has been suspended for one year without pay for providing "misleading statements to investigators".

The NBA said its month-long investigation "found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organisation, a prior offender of the salary-cap circumvention rules".

Following the ruling, Leonard, 35, said he "accepts full responsibility" for his actions and "regrets the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family".

"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," he wrote on Instagram.

The two-time NBA Finals MVP joined the Clippers in 2019 and spent seven years with the franchise before leaving this year.

The NBA said the "organisation and personnel" of the Clippers will be subject to a compliance and monitoring programme overseen by the league for five years.

Clippers to appeal against 'witch hunt' fine

The Clippers said they would appeal against the decision "through every avenue available".

"We 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," read a Clippers statement.

"What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard commissioner Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure [its] fairness and accuracy."

Leonard is now expected to complete his move to Toronto Raptors, which was on hold until the investigation was completed.

Ballmer's attorney David Kelley said in a statement - released by the Clippers, according to ESPN - that suggested the team and his client has been subject of a "witch hunt" and the punishments were a "gross injustice".

"Mr Ballmer's reputation has been irreparably damaged as he now finds himself embroiled not only in this heavily biased investigation, but in civil litigation, the Aspiration bankruptcy proceeding, and more," Kelley said.

• The Briton who remains in demand in NBA at 74

The NBA came down hard on the Los Angeles Clippers for violating salary cap circumvention rules.

The league announced significant penalties and fines for the Clippers organization, owner Steve Ballmer, former star Kawhi Leonard and other team executives in relation to their role in the scandal after releasing the findings of an 11-month independent investigation.

A law firm commissioned by the NBA determined the Clippers facilitated alleged "no-show" endorsement deals for Leonard with at least four different companies following an initial "Pablo Torre Reports" investigation into Leonard's dealings with the Clippers and team sponsor, Aspiration Partners. The investigation also revealed the Clippers, who are considered a repeat offender by the NBA, broke rules by paying for personal expenses on behalf of Leonard and his representatives in a manner not allowed under NBA rules.

Commissioner Adam Silver is not taking the matter lightly, saying in a statement, "the severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations." The Clippers have vehemently denied the allegations and responded Wednesday that they will continue to challenge the findings from the league's investigation.

Here's a breakdown of the punishment handed out by the NBA to the Los Angeles Clippers, Kawhi Leonard, owner Steve Ballmer and more after an investigation into the team's violations of the league's salary-cap circumvention rules:

RELATED: Kawhi Leonard investigation draws SEC interest in Daktronics

Clippers punishment from NBA investigation

• The Clippers forfeited five first-round draft picks, one in each of the 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033 NBA Drafts.
• The Clippers were fined $30 million.
• The Clippers organization and personnel are subject to a compliance and monitoring program overseen by the NBA league office for five years.
• Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank is suspended without pay for six months for his involvement with arranging the impermissible endorsement deals and approving impermissible expenses incurred by Leonard and his family.
• Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker is suspended without pay for one year for being "primarily and directly culpable for the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for providing false and misleading statements to investigators."

What penalties did Steve Balmer receive?

• Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is suspended from all league and team activities for one year for knowingly seeking to help Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities, for approving a business deal that he knew was a precondition for Aspiration to enter into an endorsement agreement with Mr. Leonard, and for his failure to create conditions under which his organization abided by the NBA’s circumvention rules.

What penalties did Kawhi Leonard receive?

• Leonard received a $700,000 fine.
• Leonard's former associate, Dennis Robertson, is banned for five years "from conducting business or otherwise engaging with NBA teams and their affiliates on behalf of or with respect to any player, employee, or other league or team personnel."

READ: Kawhi Leonard statement on NBA's significant punishments, fines

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What punishment did the Clippers get? NBA releases full list of penalties

Here is the NBA’s investigation into allegations the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The NBA handed down sweeping penalties to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, team executives, the team and Kawhi Leonard following an
investigation. The Clippers said in a statement that they “vehemently reject the NBA’s findings” and vowed to challenge them.

Read the full report here:

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

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 Los Angeles Clippers "vehemently reject" the NBA's findings that they circumvented the salary cap with their alleged facilitation of "no-show" endorsement deals for their former star forward Kawhi Leonard, the team said in a statement on Wednesday, Sept. 2.

The Clippers' statement came soon after the NBA announced significant punishments for the team, owner Steve Ballmer and Leonard following an 11-month investigation. Here's how the Clippers responded to being fined $30 million and forced to forfeit five first-round draft picks.

What Clippers said about punishment from NBA

"We 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," the statement read. "What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure it's fairness and accuracy.

"For the past year, we cooperated fully and in good faith and we will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence. We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process."

What are Clippers fines, punishments?

The Clippers are being fined a staggering $30 million, and the team will forfeit five first-round picks in the 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033 NBA drafts. Leonard has been fined $700,000, payable to the NBA, and the league is also suspending Ballmer from all league activities for one year.

According to the release, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association, "have entered into an agreement confirming these penalties are final and binding on all parties."

This comes after a recent ESPN report indicated that the league's investigation had found no evidence linking Ballmer to the alleged scheme. The NBA pushed back against that report, citing "significant inaccuracies."

Kawhi Leonard statement on Clippers punishments

“Integrity and respect for this game are fundamental to who I am. 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 via ESPN's Shams Charania.

"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. For 15 years, my priority has been giving everything to my family, the game, and those I share the court with. As I return to Toronto, I am focused on what I can control, closing this chapter, and moving forward with a clean slate."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Clippers 'vehemently reject' NBA's findings, will 'vigorously challenge' penalties

The Los Angeles Clippers are not going down easy after the NBA dropped the hammer on them Wednesday.

The Clippers’ organization was stripped of five first-round NBA draft picks and was fined $30 million as a result of the NBA’s verdict that they violated the league’s salary cap circumvention rules by “initiating off-court income opportunities” for superstar forward Kawhi Leonard.

Los Angeles released a very strong statement on these findings soon after they went public.

“We 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. What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner [Adam] Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure it’s fairness and accuracy,” the statement read.

The Clippers release a statement saying they “vehemently reject the NBA’s findings” and will continue fighting to demonstrate their innocence. pic.twitter.com/s1jX67rpI0

— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) September 2, 2026

“For the past year, we cooperated fully and in good faith and we will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence. / We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process.”

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker and President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank are getting suspended for various periods because of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Leonard was fined $700,000 and wasn’t suspended, which means he’ll be allowed to join the Raptors.

It seems that the Clippers are keen to fight this verdict.