NBA Strips Clippers of Five First-Round Picks in Salary Cap Scandal
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The league issued severe penalties, including a $30 million fine and a one-year suspension for owner Steve Ballmer, after finding the team circumvented rules to sign Kawhi Leonard.
The NBA has handed down one of the most severe punishments in league history to the Los Angeles Clippers following an investigation into salary cap circumvention during the recruitment of Kawhi Leonard, according to The Guardian.
As a result of the findings, the NBA stripped the Clippers of five first-round draft picks, leaving the franchise with no natural selections from 2029 through 2033. The league also imposed a $30 million fine on the team and suspended owner Steve Ballmer from all team and league activities for one year. Additional sanctions include a one-year suspension without pay for president of business operations Gillian Zucker and a six-month suspension without pay for president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank.
Reporting from The Guardian notes that the investigation, conducted by the law firm Wachtell Lipton, followed claims by journalist Pablo Torre that Ballmer used a now-defunct tree-planting company called Aspiration to funnel money to Leonard. Torre cited documents alleging a $28 million agreement between Aspiration and Leonard's company, KL2 Aspire, LLC, for work that was never performed. The Wachtell Lipton report further concluded that the Clippers facilitated improper endorsement deals between Leonard and four companies: Lockton Insurance, Daktronics, Boingo Wireless, and Aspiration Partners.
Commissioner Adam Silver described the misconduct as a result of "institutional and leadership failures." Leonard, who was fined $700,000, claimed through his agent that he acted in good faith. The Clippers have vehemently rejected the findings, calling the investigation "heavily biased" and stating they will challenge the decision through arbitration.
The penalties arrive as the Clippers' window of contention has narrowed; after reaching the Western Conference finals in 2020-21, the team has not advanced past the first round since and missed the 2025-26 postseason entirely.