Steve Ballmer, Clippers Comply with NBA Punishment From Kawhi, Salary Cap Investigation

Los Angeles Clippers governor Steve Ballmer said in a statement on Sunday night that the organization will comply with the NBA's punishments after its investigation into salary-cap circumvention regarding endorsement deals given to Kawhi Leonard.

The punishments levied at the organization included a $30 million fine and yearlong suspension for Ballmer; a one-year suspension without pay for team president of business operations Gillian Zucker; a six-month suspension without pay for president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank; and the forfeiture of five first-round picks between 2029-33.

Leonard, meanwhile, was fined $700,000 and his former business manager, Dennis Robertson, was banned by the NBA for five years.

"The NBA's collectively bargained system for determining player compensation is a fundamental component of the basketball competition that the league oversees for the benefit of the teams and players and ultimately the fans," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement earlier in September. "I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers' institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct. The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations."

Because both the NBA and NBPA agreed to the punishments, the Clippers lost arbitration as potential recourse. Ballmer's attorney, David Kelley, said in a statement to the league that "we are exploring every legal remedy to address this gross injustice," though that effort was seemingly abandoned Sunday.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn has also reportedly opened an investigation into the Clippers.

In the meantime, the June agreement between the Clippers and Toronto Raptors to send Leonard back to Canada for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, a pair of unprotected first-round picks (2031, 2033), a 2027 first-round swap and a pair of second-round picks still hangs in the balance given that it was never made official.

NBA reporter Marc Stein wrote on Friday that the delay in making that trade official has "naturally led some league observers to wonder aloud whether the Clippers are holding off—or considering something even more drastic—to spite Leonard for so readily accepting the league's punishment rather than invoking his right to pursue an appeal."

This saga isn't completely over, in other words, but the Clippers closed one chapter by formally accepting the NBA's ruling and punishments on Sunday.