NBA fines Clippers $30M, strips five draft picks, and suspends Steve Ballmer
The NBA fined the Los Angeles Clippers $30 million, stripped five first-round draft picks, and suspended owner Steve Ballmer for one year over salary cap circumvention involving Kawhi Leonard.
Sanctions and executive suspensions
The National Basketball Association issued disciplinary rulings against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday following an inquiry into salary cap circumvention surrounding forward Kawhi Leonard. The league levied a $30 million fine against the franchise and suspended team owner Steve Ballmer for one year from all league and team activities. The NBA found that Ballmer knowingly sought to assist Leonard in obtaining off-court income opportunities during negotiations. In addition to the owner's ban, president of business operations Gillian Zucker received a one-year suspension without pay for providing misleading statements to league investigators. President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was suspended for six months without pay for his role in the circumvention scheme.
- Steve Ballmer
- 12 months
- Gillian Zucker
- 12 months
- Lawrence Frank
- 6 months
Commissioner findings and scheme details
External legal counsel conducted the investigation, uncovering multiple rules violations and institutional governance failures within the Clippers front office. League findings showed that the team directed third-party corporate entities with existing franchise ties to deliver multi-million dollar payouts to Leonard for minimal or nonexistent services. As part of this arrangement, Ballmer approved a corporate partnership with the company Aspiration because he knew it was a precondition for the firm to enter into a sponsorship contract with Leonard. These illicit financial structures elevated Leonard's overall compensation without being calculated against the NBA salary cap threshold. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver condemned the conduct in an official statement accompanying the ruling.
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. 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.
Draft pick forfeitures and franchise oversight
Beyond the financial penalties, the league stripped the Clippers of five consecutive first-round draft picks covering the 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033 NBA drafts. The loss deprives the franchise of all natural first-round selections across that five-year window, affecting long-term roster construction and team rebuilding efforts. The NBA also placed the Clippers under a specialized compliance monitoring program that will oversee team operations for five years. League officials cited a pattern of misconduct in their determination, noting that the Clippers organization was a prior offender under salary cap circumvention rules.
- Los Angeles Clippers
- 30000000 USD
- Kawhi Leonard
- 700000 USD
Player penalties and trade resolution
The league required two-time NBA champion Leonard to pay a $700,000 penalty and return funds, though he avoided a formal playing suspension. Over his seven seasons with the Clippers, the forward received nearly $300 million in regular salary while dealing with repeated injuries, during which the franchise never reached the NBA Finals. In June 2026, the Clippers traded the 35-year-old forward back to the Toronto Raptors, the team he led to an NBA championship in 2019. The unresolved league investigation had left that trade in limbo, and the final ruling provides planning certainty for Leonard and both clubs ahead of the upcoming campaign.
