The NBA handed down one of the most sweeping disciplinary packages in league history against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, finding that the organization violated salary-cap circumvention rules in a scheme to funnel outside income to star forward Kawhi Leonard.
The findings – which also name owner Steve Ballmer and top executives – cap an investigation led by New York-based law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz that began nearly a year ago.
The NBA described a pattern of misconduct by the Clippers, citing a 2015 incident resulting in a fine. The league found the Clippers initiated off-court income opportunities between Leonard and four companies doing business with the team – Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics and Lockton Insurance – facilitated those deals by dangling team business and covered personal expenses for Leonard and his representatives.
Among the severe penalties against the team, the Clippers forfeit five first-round draft picks – one in each of the 2029 through 2033 drafts – and pay a $30 million fine. Ballmer is also suspended from all league and team activities for one year for “knowingly seeking to help” Leonard obtain the arrangements, among other issues. Gillian Zucker, president of business operations, and Lawrence Frank, president of basketball operations, were also suspended without pay – one year for Zucker and six months for Frank.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver framed the ruling as a defense of the league’s core economics, saying the collectively bargained compensation system is fundamental to competitive balance and calling the Clippers’ leadership failures “deeply” disappointing.
“The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations,” Silver said in a statement.
‘Vehemently rejects’ findings
The Clippers – which also faces league-appointed compliance monitoring for five years – aren’t accepting the outcome quietly. The team said in a statement that it “vehemently rejects the NBA’s findings,” calling the investigation “biased” and accusing the league of pursuing a “predetermined narrative rather than following the facts and evidence,” according to the Associated Press.
“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 its fairness and accuracy,” the team said in its statement, adding that the organizations will “now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence.”
The team said that they “intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process.”
Leonard, in a separate statement issued through his agent Harrison Gaines and reported by the AP, said he accepts “full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret(s) the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family.”
He maintained that he entered his contract with the Clippers as well as the business agreements in question “in good faith with no knowledge of any intent on anyone’s part to circumvent the salary cap.”
Leonard must pay $700,000 for pressuring the Clippers, through then-manager Dennis Robertson, to obtain the deals, the league said in its findings. Robertson is banned from doing business with any NBA team or personnel for five years.
The ruling also clears the last hurdle to finalizing Leonard’s stalled trade to the Toronto Raptors, agreed to in principle in June and frozen pending the investigation, according to CBS Sports, with training camps opening this month.
