NBA penalizes Clippers with five first-round picks, $30 million fine and suspensions after salary-cap probe

The NBA announced Wednesday that the Los Angeles Clippers will forfeit one first-round draft pick in each of the 2029 through 2033 drafts and pay a $30 million fine after a near-year investigation found multiple salary-cap circumvention violations linked to Kawhi Leonard’s 2022 deal. Owner Steve Ballmer received a one-year suspension from all league and team activities, while business operations president Gillian Zucker was suspended without pay for a year and basketball operations president Lawrence Frank for six months. Leonard was ordered to repay $700,000 to the league.

Commissioner Adam Silver said the league’s collectively bargained compensation system is a core element of the sport and expressed disappointment with “the flagrant violations of our rules and … leadership failures” that led to the misconduct. Leonard, represented by new agent Harrison Gaines, accepted “full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle” and said he entered his contract in good faith, unaware of any intent to evade the cap.

The probe, conducted by law firm Wachtell Lipton, concluded the Clippers facilitated off-court income opportunities for Leonard with four companies that do business with the team, arranged endorsement agreements, covered personal expenses and failed to report improper solicitations. The findings follow earlier allegations that Leonard received a $28 million endorsement from the now-bankrupt green-banking firm Aspiration, which also held a $300 million deal with the Clippers.

The Clippers said they will contest the investigation’s conclusions through “every avenue available,” describing the process as biased and asserting that private communications with the league differed from the public announcement. They pledged to cooperate fully and fight to prove their innocence.