Winners and losers from NBA finding, penalties on Clippers, Kawhi Leonard investigation

Adam Silver and the NBA brought the hammer down on the Clippers.

Announcing the findings and penalties from a year-long investigation into the Clippers using team sponsors and business partners to circumvent the salary cap and funnel more money to Kawhi Leonard, the league came down with the harshest penalties in league history:

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• The Clippers surrender five first-round draft picks (2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033).
• The Clippers are fined $30 million.
• Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is suspended from anything to do with the team or the league for one year.
• Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker is suspended for one year, while President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank is suspended for six months.
• Kawhi Leonard must pay a $700,000 fine, and his already-fired business manager, Dennis Robertson (better known as “Uncle Dennis”), is banned from conducting NBA business for five years.

So who came out on top and who was the loser here? Let’s break it down.

Winner: Kawhi Leonard

While Kawhi Leonard is paying a healthy fine — although still just a fraction of what he made on those “no-show” endorsements — it is the Clippers and Leonard’s management who take the hit here. That’s largely because Leonard had layers of protection, including the NBPA. A source with knowledge of the situation told NBC Sports only the players’ union could force the arbitration process — a neutral arbitrator who could rule on the fairness of all the punishments in relation to the evidence — but with the union and Leonard agreeing to the terms, there is no arbitration.

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Leonard will make all of the $50.3 million on his contract this season, and the trade sending him to Toronto that was in place but on pause will go through in the coming days. That puts Leonard in a city (and country) where he is a legend and adored, and is out of the U.S. media spotlight. Plus, Leonard already has his new representation talking to Toronto about a contract extension there. This has gone about as well as it could for Leonard.

Loser: Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer is the kind of owner you want for your…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/winners-losers-nba-finding-penalties-040337115.html

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Publish date : 2026-09-03 04:03:00

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