NBA has fined LA Clippers and star Kawhi Leonard after an investigation finds violations of the salary cap circumvention rules.
The NBA on Wednesday, September 2, delivered several punishments for the franchise LA Clippers that include the loss of five future first-round draft picks.
NBA awarded the hefty penalty of $30 million and a yearlong suspension to owner Steve Ballmer.
Ballmer’s penalty came in the backdrop of a case involving Kawhi Leonard, who was accused of having violated the salary cap circumvention rules.
The rules are well defined in the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).
It’s not the first time that Clippers have been found guilty of doing this before, and now they’ve been caught again secretly paying players extra money outside their official contracts.
The violation of the salary cap circumvention rules has serious implications for teams, as NBA has set strict punishments to stop them from finding sneaky ways to pay players more than the salary cap allows it.
NBA released a statement that said after a near-yearlong investigation “found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organisation, a prior offender of the salary cap circumvention rules.”
As a result of the penalties, the Clippers must forfeit first-round draft picks in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033.
Clippers’ star Leonard, however, escaped a ban but was fined $700,000, with both the league and the players’ union (NBPA) agreed that all penalties are final and binding.
2026-09-03 10:58:00
