The NBA has imposed unprecedented penalties on the Los Angeles Clippers after finding that the team violated league rules by circumventing the salary cap in connection with Kawhi Leonard’s signing in 2022.
Following a months-long investigation, the league determined that the organization committed a series of significant violations. The punishment includes a $30 million fine, the loss of five first-round draft picks and lengthy suspensions for senior club officials.
The Clippers will forfeit their first-round pick in five consecutive drafts, in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033.
Team owner Steve Ballmer was suspended from all league- and team-related activity for one year. President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker was suspended without pay for a year, while President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank was suspended without pay for six months.
Leonard was also punished and will be required to pay the league $700,000.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said: “I am deeply disappointed by the blatant violations of our rules and the organizational and leadership failures by the Clippers that led to this conduct. The severity of the penalties reflects the severity of the violations.”
So what exactly was the case about?
The investigation focused on allegations that the Clippers helped Leonard obtain income outside basketball as part of the move that led to his signing with the team.
At the center of the affair was Aspiration, a green banking company that later went bankrupt. Leonard signed a $28 million sponsorship agreement with the company in 2022. At the same time, Aspiration had a 23-year sponsorship agreement with the Clippers worth $300 million.
The investigation found that the Clippers violated league rules by initiating and helping arrange dual contracts for Leonard with four companies that did business with the team, in order to avoid affecting the club’s salary cap.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer
(Photo: AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
According to the investigation, the team helped secure sponsorship agreements, encouraged the companies to enter into deals with Leonard and also covered personal expenses for the player and his representatives.
The league also found that the Clippers failed to report improper approaches regarding outside income made on Leonard’s behalf through his then-business manager, Dennis Robertson.
The affair was first exposed following allegations raised by former ESPN journalist and commentator Pablo Torre in a series of podcasts last September.
Leonard, who will play for Toronto next season, responded to the punishment by saying: “I accept full responsibility for poor judgment by people in my inner circle, and I regret the distraction this situation has caused for the fans and my family. I signed my contract with the Clippers, as well as the agreements in question, in good faith, fully committed to fulfilling my obligations and without any knowledge of any intention by anyone to circumvent the salary cap.”
Clippers: ‘We will fight to prove our innocence’
The Clippers said they were stunned by the decision.
“We strongly reject the NBA’s conclusions, which are the result of a highly biased investigation designed to justify a predetermined narrative rather than rely on facts and evidence,” the team said. “What the league told us privately differs from what it announced publicly today, and it also failed to meet the standard Commissioner Adam Silver himself set at the start of the investigation to ensure its fairness and accuracy.”
“For the past year, we have cooperated fully and in good faith, and now we will fight with the same determination to prove our innocence,” the Clippers continued. “We intend to vigorously challenge the findings and penalties through every avenue available to us, and we expect an ethical, fair and independent arbitration process.”
The punishment has also caused considerable shock in the United States.
“This is a death sentence for the Clippers,” The Athletic reporter Andrew Schlecht wrote on X.
Veteran journalist Bill Simmons added: “I’m pretty sure this is the harshest punishment ever handed down in NBA history.”