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The NBA has handed down one of the biggest punishments in the history of the league to the Los Angeles Clippers after finding that the franchise circumvented salary cap rules when it courted Kawhi Leonard as a free agent.
The league has stripped the team of five first-round draft picks, giving the team no natural pick in the draft from 2029 through 2033.
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The NBA also fined the Clippers $30m, and suspended owner Steve Ballmer from all league and team activities for a year. In addition, it issued suspensions without pay to president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank (six months) and president of business operations Gillian Zucker (one year) for their involvement in the scheme.
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Leonard was also fined $700,000. The Clippers agreed to trade the seven-time All-Star to the Toronto Raptors earlier this summer, but the deal had been put on hold pending the completion of the NBA’s investigation. Leonard is due to make $50m in salary this season, while Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, has an estimated wealth of $152.7bn, according to Forbes.
“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,” NBA 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.”
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In a statement through his agent, Leonard said he took “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. I entered into my contract with the Clippers as well as the agreements in question in good faith, fully committed to fulfilling my obligations and with no knowledge of any intent on anyone’s part to circumvent the salary cap.”
The Clippers said they would challenge the investigation’s…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/clippers-docked-five-first-round-205228459.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-02 20:52:00
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