6 winners, 5 losers from Kawhi Leonard scandal after Clippers get hit with NBA ‘death penalty’

The Los Angeles Clippers circumvented the salary cap to funnel extra money to Kawhi Leonard for his commitment to the team, and they were caught red-handed. The NBA dropped the hammer on the Clippers on Wednesday after a one-year investigation into the allegations first uncovered by journalist Pablo Torre. The NBA decided to dock the Clippers five future first-round draft picks while suspending governor Steve Ballmer for a year as punishment for Leonard’s no-show endorsement deal with Aspiration and other companies. This is a massive penalty, and it could ruin the Clippers for the next decade.

The NBA had precedent to punish cap circumvention with the 2000 Joe Smith scandal that stripped the Minnesota Timberwolves of five first-round picks back when David Stern was commissioner (though two picks were eventually returned). Adam Silver followed through after a thorough investigation by top-rated law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen, & Katz. While Leonard and Ballmer came away with relatively small fines compared to their level of wealth, Clippers fans and players suffer after receiving this devastating penalty.

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Still, the NBA got it right. This was a job well done by Silver and the league office. Let’s go through the winners and losers of this historic NBA story.

Winner: Pablo Torre

Torre was named in the first sentence of the report on the NBA’s findings. His independent reporting started this investigation and led to the one of the biggest punishments in sports history. He went after a billionaire for cheating the system, and he was completely vindicated. This ruling is an incredible victory for Torre, yes, and also for journalism. At its core, journalism isn’t about scooping a press release by a few hours — it’s about finding the truth, holding power accountable, and giving unbiased, verified information to the public. Torre did that by taking on one of the richest billionaires in the world and continuing to stand strong in his reporting despite a massive smear campaign against him. Hopefully, he inspires a younger generation of journalists to keep searching for the truth in a dying field.

Winner: Adam…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/6-winners-5-losers-kawhi-145602767.html

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Publish date : 2026-09-03 14:56:00

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