Clippers docked 5 first-round draft picks and fined $30 million following Kawhi Leonard probe
By Wayne Sterling, CNN
(CNN) — The NBA issued stern penalties against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday following an independent investigation that revealed a “pattern of misconduct” and severe salary cap circumvention violations.
The investigation found that the Clippers improperly funneled off-court endorsement opportunities to star forward Kawhi Leonard through corporate partners – including Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics, and Lockton Insurance – in exchange for team business.
The report stated the franchise also covered personal expenses for Leonard and failed to report improper solicitations made by his former business manager, Dennis Robertson.
As a result of this investigation, the Clippers must forfeit five consecutive first-round draft picks starting in 2029, pay a $30 million fine and submit to five years of strict league monitoring.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has been suspended for one year from all league and team activities for, in part, “failure to create conditions under which his organization abided by the NBA’s circumvention rules.”
In a sharp rebuttal, the Clippers organization vehemently rejected the league’s findings, calling the probe a “heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence.”
The team claimed that public announcements contradicted private assurances from league officials and maintained that introducing players to corporate partners aligns with standard NBA practices.
Leonard, a two-time NBA champion, is required to pay $700,000 in restitution to the NBA. Through his agent Harrison Gaines, the two-time Finals MVP issued a statement denying he knew about “anyone’s part to circumvent the salary cap” while addressing the findings.
“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,” he stated.
The seven-time All-Star said he was looking ahead to his second stint with his former team, the Raptors, next season.
“As I return to Toronto, I am focused on what I can control, closing this chapter, and moving forward with a clean slate,” he added.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver condemned the “flagrant violations” and “the Clippers’ institutional and leadership failures,” noting the severity of the punishment reflects the seriousness of the offense.
Despite the Clippers’ vow to challenge the ruling, the effort appears to be moot, with both the NBA and the players’ union confirming the penalties are final and cannot be appealed by any party.
CNN has reached out to Ballmer for comment.
The Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz law firm conducted the probe.
Penalties announced nearly a year after report
The NBA’s findings land almost a year to the date after the league said it would investigate the team following a report by podcast host and journalist Pablo Torre. He accused the Clippers of orchestrating a deceptive endorsement deal to sign the then-free agent Leonard through noncompliant ways.
In an episode of “Pablo Torre Finds Out” released in September 2025, Torre claimed to have gained access to more than 3,000 pages of internal documents and spoke with multiple unnamed sources. Those documents and sources, Torre reports, put together a picture of an alleged 2022 scheme to pay Leonard $28 million over four years, which would avoid the league’s salary restrictions.
Following the start of the probe, Leonard, Ballmer and the team denied any wrongdoing. Ballmer and team president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank also said they “welcomed the league’s investigation” at the time.
Frank was suspended on Wednesday without pay for six months along with team president of business operations Gillan Zucker, who was suspended for a year.
According to the report, Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration before the team and company announced a $300 million partnership in September 2021, just about a month after Leonard signed a four-year, $176 million extension with the Clippers.
The Clippers terminated the relationship two years later, citing contract default. Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg agreed to plead guilty in August 2025 after facing federal wire fraud charges. Prosecutors said he defrauded investors and lenders out of $248 million, adding that “Aspiration’s financial statements were inaccurate and reflected much higher revenue than the company in fact received.”
When Aspiration filed for bankruptcy, the company still owed Leonard roughly $7 million of his $28 million endorsement deal, according to Torre’s report.
Leonard previously downplayed the unpaid funds, calling the arrangement a “fraud” and claiming he never received the money.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
The-CNN-Wire
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