The NBA fined the Los Angeles Clippers $30 million and stripped the franchise of five first-round picks after determining it violated salary-cap circumvention rules via endorsement deals for Kawhi Leonard, the league announced Wednesday.
Los Angeles is losing its first-rounders in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033.
Owner Steve Ballmer faces a one-year suspension from all league and team activities. Clippers president of business operations Gillian Zucker is suspended without pay for one year, and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank is suspended six months without pay.
Leonard was ordered to pay the league $700,000 but otherwise escaped league discipline. His uncle and former business manager, Dennis Robertson, is prohibited from contacting NBA teams and their affiliates on behalf of players, employees, or any league or team personnel for five years.
The Clippers “vehemently reject” the investigation’s conclusions and “intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties,” the team said in a statement via basketball insider Marc Stein. The organization called the probe “heavily biased” and alleged that it sought to “justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts.”
In a separate letter directed to commissioner Adam Silver, the Clippers claimed he broke promises to maintain “a foundational sense of fairness” throughout the probe. The franchise also deemed the process a “witch hunt,” arguing the investigation was “flawed from the outset.”
The league did not act on the agreed-upon trade that would send Leonard back to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, Toronto’s unprotected first-rounders in 2031 and 2033, two second-rounders (2030 and 2033), and the right to swap first-round picks with the Raptors next year. The teams made the trade in June but subsequently opted to put the deal on hold while awaiting the NBA’s decision.
An independent investigation by the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz named four companies connected to Leonard: Aspiration, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics, and Lockton Insurance. The Clippers broke cap circumvention rules when they “initiated off-court income opportunities” between Leonard and those companies, facilitated the endorsement deals, and offered the companies “business from the team” to induce them to agree to the deals, the investigation determined. Los Angeles also violated league rules by paying personal expenses on behalf of Leonard and Robertson and failing to notify the NBA of Robertson’s “improper solicitations for off-court income opportunities.”
Leonard said in a statement: “Integrity and respect for this game are fundamental to who I am. 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.”
The Clippers were under investigation for allegedly circumventing salary-cap restrictions by using a third-party endorsement deal with the now-defunct green banking company Aspiration to pay Leonard outside his contract.
The NBA commissioned an independent investigation in September 2025 after reports from journalist Pablo Torre indicated that Leonard had received a four-year, $28-million no-show endorsement deal from Aspiration.
Leonard and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer denied any wrongdoing. Ballmer contended he was “conned” after investing $50 million into Aspiration. Company co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced to 14 years in prison for wire fraud in June.
Leonard was recently linked with a second “multi-million-dollar” cap-circumventing corporate deal from Daktronics, the company that built the halo video board in the Clippers’ $2-billion Intuit Dome.
The 35-year-old agreed to a three-year, $159-million contract with the Clippers in January 2024.
Leonard averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 boards, 3.6 assists, and 1.9 steals in 65 games during the 2025-26 season, earning All-NBA second-team honors and finishing seventh in MVP voting.
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