NBA fines Clippers $30 million over Kawhi Leonard deal

The NBA has fined the Los Angeles Clippers $30 million for violating salary rules connected to the acquisition of Kawhi Leonard, BBC Sport reported on Wednesday. The ruling also strips the franchise of five first-round draft picks from 2029 through 2033, making the punishment consequential well beyond the immediate financial penalty.

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Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has been suspended from all league and team activities for 12 months. According to the NBA finding reported by the BBC, Ballmer knowingly tried to help Leonard secure income opportunities away from the court. The league also imposed a $700,000 fine on Leonard, a two-time NBA champion and two-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player.

Gillian Zucker, the Clippers' president of business operations, received a one-year suspension without pay. The NBA said she gave investigators misleading statements. Those individual penalties accompanied the sanctions against the team after a month-long league inquiry into its conduct.

The NBA characterized the findings as a pattern of misconduct involving several significant rule violations. It also identified the Clippers as a previous offender of rules designed to prevent salary-cap circumvention. Beyond the announced fine, lost selections and suspensions, the league said the franchise and its personnel will enter a five-year compliance and monitoring program under NBA oversight.

Leonard said after the ruling that he accepted full responsibility and regretted the distraction caused to supporters and his family. In an Instagram statement cited by BBC Sport, he maintained that he entered his Clippers contract and the related agreements in good faith and did not know of any intention by another party to evade the salary cap.

Leonard joined Los Angeles in 2019 and spent seven years with the Clippers before moving to the Toronto Raptors, according to the BBC report. The loss of one first-round selection in each year from 2029 to 2033 creates a long-term roster-building consequence, while the five-year monitoring period means league scrutiny will extend beyond the one-year suspensions of Ballmer and Zucker. The NBA's decision therefore combines immediate financial discipline with restrictions that will affect the organization for several seasons.