Overview
- The NBA announced on September 2 that an independent Wachtell Lipton probe found the Los Angeles Clippers arranged endorsement and business agreements between Kawhi Leonard and companies doing business with the team to skirt salary‑cap rules.
- As punishment the league fined the Clippers $30 million, took five future first‑round picks (2029–2033), suspended owner Steve Ballmer for one year and suspended senior executives for shorter terms, and ordered multi‑year monitoring of the franchise.
- Kawhi Leonard was fined $700,000 but not suspended, while his uncle and former business manager Dennis Robertson was banned from NBA business for five years.
- Reporters say the previously agreed trade that would send Leonard back to the Toronto Raptors is expected to proceed with Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and the agreed draft compensation moving to Los Angeles, even as the Clippers contest the league’s findings.
- The ruling immediately changes asset values across the league by erasing Los Angeles’s near‑term draft currency, boosting the value of existing pick swaps and prompting talk of roster moves such as trading Darius Garland as the Clippers seek ways to replenish picks while facing possible CBA arbitration and prolonged oversight.