LOS ANGELES - The NBA finished its investigation into the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard on Wednesday, and the punishment landed harder than anyone in the building expected. The league found a pattern of misconduct in how the team helped Leonard land off-court money, and it said so in the strongest language it has ever used against a franchise.
The Clippers will lose five first-round picks, one in every draft from 2029 through 2033, and they were fined $30 million on top of that, with a league compliance and monitoring program hanging over the organization for the next five years.
What the Suspensions Mean
Owner Steve Ballmer is suspended from all league and team activities for one year, and he has company.
Gillian Zucker, the president of business operations, is suspended without pay for a year after the league said she was most responsible for the endorsement deals and gave false statements to investigators, while Lawrence Frank, the president of basketball operations, is suspended without pay for six months for his role and for signing off on expenses tied to Leonard and his family.
That leaves the front office without its top decision maker heading into camp and the owner unable to step in, so Trent Redden and the rest of the basketball staff will run the early part of the season with the league watching over their shoulder.
The Clippers have released a statement and seem to disagree with what they were told and what the findings were, saying, “What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly…”
The investigation found the Clippers set up endorsement deals between Leonard and four companies doing business with the team, paid personal expenses for him and failed to report improper requests made through his former business manager, Dennis Robertson.
The Kawhi Trade Can Finally Go Through
Leonard came out of this in far better shape than the team did, since he must pay the league $700,000 but was not suspended and did not have his contract voided, which was the one outcome the Raptors were waiting on.
Toronto agreed on June 30 to send Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2027 pick swap and two second-rounders to Los Angeles for Leonard, then paused the deal on July 9 when the NBA said Toronto would take on any penalty that hit the player.
That risk is gone now, and nothing in the ruling stops the trade from closing before camp.
Leonard averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 65 games last season, and he joins a Raptors team that went 46-36 with Ingram as its leading scorer.
Ingram put up 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists on 47.7 percent shooting, so the Clippers at least get a real player back.
Why This Cripples the Future
The Raptors picks soften the blow but do not replace what was lost.
The Clippers went 42-40 last season and finished ninth in the West without making the playoffs, and now they are giving up their own first-rounder five years in a row while starting over without Leonard.
The picks from Toronto do not arrive until 2031 and 2033, and the Clippers cannot package their own picks in those years because they no longer own them.
That means the team cannot build a trade offer for a star or lean on cheap rookie deals to fill out the roster, and since the league and the players' union agreed the penalties are final, there is no appeal coming to save them.
For a franchise that finally has its own arena and its own identity, it is a heavy price to pay for the way it kept its best player happy.