The NBA has handed down one of the most severe punishments in its history to the Los Angeles Clippers, fining the team $30 million and stripping it of five consecutive first-round draft picks from 2029 through 2033. The penalties, announced Wednesday, follow a nearly year-long investigation into salary-cap circumvention involving star forward Kawhi Leonard.
The case traces back to September 2025, when journalist Pablo Torre reported on a $28 million endorsement deal between Leonard and Aspiration, a now-bankrupt company Clippers owner Steve Ballmer had personally invested $50 million in. According to ESPN, the league’s investigation ultimately found the Clippers had steered off-court income opportunities to Leonard through four business partners: Aspiration, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics and Lockton Insurance.
Investigators said the team offered those companies additional Clippers business as an incentive to sign endorsement deals with Leonard, covered his personal expenses, and failed to report efforts by his uncle and former manager, Dennis Robertson, to arrange the outside income. Robertson has since been barred from doing business with any NBA team for five years.
Losing five first-rounders is what really hurts the Clippers
Owner Steve Ballmer was suspended from all team and league activities for one year, with the league saying he knowingly helped Leonard secure outside income. Before he was courtside, Ballmer spent 14 years as Microsoft’s CEO, including announcing a major company restructuring that reshaped the Xbox division.
Business operations president Gillian Zucker was suspended without pay for a year over her own involvement and for giving investigators misleading information, and basketball operations president Lawrence Frank received a six-month suspension for approving improper expenses.
The draft picks are likely to sting more than the fine, as rookie contracts let teams add talent at a fraction of market value. The closest historical comparison is the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 2000 punishment for circumventing the cap to sign Joe Smith, which also cost the team five first-round picks, though the NBA later restored two of them. The timing stings more given the Clippers’ shaky form this season, a roster that could have used the cost-controlled talent those picks would have brought in.
Leonard was fined $700,000 but avoided suspension or having his contract voided. Through his agent, he said he had “no knowledge of any intent on anyone’s part to circumvent” the cap, while accepting responsibility for the judgment of people in his inner circle. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called the conduct “flagrant violations of our rules” and cited institutional failures within the organization.
The ruling clears the way for the trade the Clippers and Toronto Raptors agreed to in June, which had been on hold during the investigation. Leonard is now expected to head back to Toronto, where he won a championship in 2019.
The Clippers have rejected the findings outright, calling the investigation “a heavily biased” process and saying they will fight it “through every avenue available.” The league’s ruling is final with no internal appeal process, leaving court as the team’s only option.
Published: Sep 3, 2026 05:15 pm