Clippers slam NBA probe as ‘witch hunt,’ vow to explore ‘every legal remedy to address this gross injustice’

The NBA dropped the hammer on the Los Angeles Clippers and team owner Steve Ballmer on Wednesday, and the Clippers are vowing to fight back.

The league released the long-awaited results of its investigation into allegations that the Clippers circumvented the NBA’s salary cap in its dealings with All-Star Kawhi Leonard and multiple third-party vendors.

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The league concluded that the Clippers and Leonard did circumvent the salary cap and handed down discipline to multiple parties. Among the disciplinary actions, the NBA stripped the Clippers of five first-round draft picks, fined Ballmer $30 million and issued Ballmer a one-year ban “from all league and team activities.”

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Leonard was fined $700,000 for what the league determined was his role in the scandal.

For the discipline of Ballmer and the Clippers, the team issued two impassioned statements Wednesday in defiance of the NBA’s findings and its disciplinary measures.

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Clippers reject ‘heavily biased investigation’

The first, unsigned, “vehemently” rejected the league’s findings, which the team vowed to “rigorously challenge.”

“We vehemently reject the NBA’s findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence,” the statement reads. “What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure its fairness and accuracy.

“For the past year, we cooperated fully and in good faith and we will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence. We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process.”

Clippers: NBA probe was a ‘witch hunt’

Also Wednesday, the team issued a letter addressed to NBA commissioner Adam Silver detailing its issues with the league’s investigation, which it called a “witch hunt.”

The letter signed by Clippers attorney…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/clippers-slam-nba-probe-as-witch-hunt-vow-to-explore-every-legal-remedy-to-address-this-gross-injustice-003444350.html

Author : Jason Owens

Publish date : 2026-09-03 00:34:00

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