The NBA has announced severe penalties against the LA Clippers, team owner Steve Ballmer, and star player Kawhi Leonard following an investigation into salary cap circumvention. The Clippers will forfeit five future first-round draft picks (2029-2033) and pay a $30 million fine. Ballmer is suspended for one year from all league and team activities, and other team executives, Gillian Zucker and Lawrence Frank, received suspensions without pay.
The investigation, which lasted nearly a year and was prompted by a September 2025 report from journalist Pablo Torre, found a "pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations." The league concluded that the Clippers initiated off-court income opportunities for Leonard with companies doing business with the team, including Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics, and Lockton Insurance. Leonard's former business manager and uncle, Dennis Robertson, was found to have pressured the Clippers for these opportunities, and Leonard himself failed to reimburse payments for personal expenses.
Kawhi Leonard was not suspended but must pay the league $700,000. He stated he accepted "full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle" and denied knowledge of intent to circumvent the salary cap. The penalties are binding and are a direct response to the "flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers' institutional and leadership failures," according to NBA commissioner Adam Silver. The Clippers will also operate under an NBA compliance and monitoring program for five years.
