The NBA on Wednesday announced severe punishments for the LA Clippers -- including the loss of five future first-round draft picks, a fine of $30 million and a yearlong suspension of owner Steve Ballmer -- for violating salary cap circumvention rules in a case involving star Kawhi Leonard.
In a statement, the NBA said a near-yearlong investigation "found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organization, a prior offender of the salary cap circumvention rules."
As a result, the Clippers must forfeit first-round draft picks in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033. In addition to the $30 million fine, Ballmer is suspended from all league and team activities for one year "for knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities," among other issues. President of business operations Gillian Zucker is suspended without pay for one year. And president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank is suspended without pay for six months.
Leonard, a two-time NBA Finals MVP, wasn't suspended but must pay the league $700,000.
All penalties are binding, the league and the players' union 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," commissioner Adam Silver said. "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."
In September 2025, following a report by podcast journalist Pablo Torre, the league opened an investigation into whether a $28 million endorsement contract between Leonard and Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC -- a company that filed for bankruptcy last year -- broke league rules. Earlier this year, Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to defrauding investors and lenders of at least $248 million.
The Clippers, who had said multiple times in recent months that they had done nothing wrong and expected to be exonerated, contested the league's findings Wednesday and said they will challenge them "through every avenue available to us."
"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 team said in a statement. "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."
The Clippers also released a letter Wednesday from Ballmer's attorney David Kelley to Silver in which he described the investigation as "a witch hunt" and the subsequent penalties as a "gross injustice." Kelley accused Silver of not keeping his promises that the investigation would be governed by due process and fundamental fairness as well as the burden being on the league to prove any violations through evidence.
"Mr. Ballmer's reputation has been irreparably damaged as he now finds himself embroiled not only in this heavily biased investigation, but in civil litigation, the Aspiration bankruptcy proceeding, and more," Kelley wrote.
Kelley added that no league rule prohibits team personnel from making introductions to sponsors and vendors in response to player requests.
"Retroactively punishing the Clippers for violating a rule that never existed is hardly consistent with due process," he wrote.
The league said Ballmer knowingly sought to help Leonard obtain off-court income deals, approved a business deal that he knew was a precondition for Aspiration to enter into an endorsement contract with Leonard and for failing to create conditions under which his team followed league rules.
The NBA also said Leonard, through his uncle and former business manager Dennis Robertson, "violated the circumvention rules by pressuring the Clippers to assist him in obtaining off-court income opportunities, successfully obtaining those opportunities, and failing to reimburse payments by the Clippers for personal expenses."
Leonard, through his new agent, Harrison Gaines, said he accepted "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."
"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," he said.
New York law firm Wachtell Lipton, which released a summary report Wednesday, conducted the investigation.
The Clippers and Toronto Raptors agreed to a trade centered on Leonard earlier this summer, but that was put on hold until the NBA investigation wrapped up. ESPN's Shams Charania reported Wednesday that there is "full expectation" that the trade will now be completed.
"For 15 years, my priority has been giving everything to my family, the game, and those I share the court with," Leonard said. "As I return to Toronto, I am focused on what I can control, closing this chapter, and moving forward with a clean slate."
The Clippers and their personnel will be under a compliance and monitoring program by the league for five years, and Robertson was banned from doing business with NBA teams for five years.
The league penalized Frank for his involvement with the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for approving impermissible expenses incurred by Leonard and his family. Zucker was banned for being primarily and directly culpable for the illegal endorsement arrangements and for lying to investigators.
Ballmer, 70, who was the CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014, bought the Clippers for $2 billion in 2014.
In 2015, they were fined $250,000 for violating rules against offering unauthorized business or investment opportunities to players as they pursued free agent DeAndre Jordan.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
