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.

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”

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.

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

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."