NBA docks Clippers 5 first round picks, $30M for Kawhi Leonard scandal

The NBA on Wednesday announced sweeping sanctions against the Los Angeles Clippers for what the league said was an intentional effort to circumvent its salary cap by funneling money to star player Kawhi Leonard through endorsement opportunities and other income in order to sign him in 2024.

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, NBA investigators found.

The team facilitated endorsement agreements between these companies by offering them business from the team and failed to report the income to the league.

“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,” commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “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.”

The Clippers will lose five first round draft picks starting in 2029 and will be fined $30 million as part of the club’s punishment, while its owner Steve Ballmer has been suspended “from all league and team activities for one year for knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities, for approving a business deal that he knew was a precondition for Aspiration to enter into an endorsement agreement with Mr. Leonard, and for his failure to create conditions under which his organization abided by the NBA’s circumvention rules.”

News of the Clippers scandal was first reported last year by the independent journalist Pablo Torre, while one of the companies that allegedly did business with Leonard told its investors this week it was cooperating with officials from the NBA and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It was unclear as of Wednesday if the Clippers, Ballmer, Leonard or the companies involved had violated any federal or state laws as part of the scheme to circumvent the salary cap.

In a statement to ESPN issued through his agent, Leonard said, “I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family.”

The Clippers, in a statement of their own to the outlet said they “vehemently reject the NBA’s findings,” which the Clippers called “the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence.”