The Los Angeles Clippers have been fined $30million (£22.2m) by the National Basketball Association (NBA) for violating salary rules in relation to Kawhi Leonard.
The fine is the largest in league history and the ramifications don’t stop there with the Clippers stripped of five first-round draft picks between 2029 and 2033 and owner Steve Ballmer suspended from all NBA and LA team activities for 12 months.
In addition too, Leonard himself has fined $700,000 (£518,997) while president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank has been suspended without pay for six months and president of business operations Gillian Zucker was suspended for one year.
The punishments all come as a result of the NBA’s nearly year-long investigation into the Western Conference franchise.
Their findings concluded that two-time NBA champion Leonard, through his former business manager and uncle Dennis Robertson, pressured the Clippers into ‘obtaining off-court income opportunities [and] successfully obtaining those opportunities’.
Kawhi Leonard statement
‘I accept 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,’ Leonard said in a statement issued through his new agent, Harrison Gaines.
‘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.’
An investigation conducted by New York law firm Wachtell Lipton said the Clippers broke NBA rules by initiating off-court income opportunities between Leonard and four companies doing business with the team, as well as facilitating endorsement agreements between Leonard and the companies.
It added that the Clippers ‘induced the companies to enter into these agreements by offering them business from the team’, as well as paying personal expenses on behalf of Leonard and ‘failing to report improper solicitations for off-court income opportunities’ made on Leonard’s behalf through Robertson.
NBA statement
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said: ‘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.
‘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.’
Two-time NBA Finals MVP Leonard, 35, joined the Clippers in 2019 and spent seven years with the franchise before leaving this off-season to return to the Toronto Raptors.
