NBA Hits Clippers With $30m Fine, Ballmer Suspension and Five Lost First-Round Picks

The NBA has handed the Los Angeles Clippers sweeping sanctions over salary cap circumvention violations involving Kawhi Leonard, including a $30 million team fine and the loss of five first-round draft picks.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was suspended for one year on Wednesday, while president of business operations Gillian Zucker received the same punishment. President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was suspended for six months without pay.

Leonard was fined $700,000, while his former business manager and uncle, Dennis Robertson, was banned from doing business with NBA teams for five years. The Clippers will also forfeit their first-round selections from 2029 through 2033.

The penalties follow a nearly year-long investigation conducted by an outside law firm. The NBA began examining the matter in September 2025 after questions were raised about a $28 million endorsement agreement between Leonard and Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC, which later filed for bankruptcy.

Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced earlier this year to 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to defrauding investors and lenders of at least $248 million.

The NBA said Leonard and Robertson breached circumvention rules by pushing the Clippers to help secure off-court income opportunities. The league also accused Ballmer of knowingly attempting to assist Leonard in obtaining such opportunities.

The Clippers strongly rejected the findings and indicated they would challenge the sanctions.

“We vehemently reject the NBA’s findings,” the organisation said, describing the investigation as biased and claiming the league’s private communication differed from its public announcement.

The team added that it intends to challenge the decision “through every avenue available to us” and seek arbitration.

Leonard, meanwhile, accepted responsibility for judgment lapses involving people around him but maintained that he entered his agreements in good faith.

“I entered into my contract with the Clippers as well as the agreements in question in good faith,” Leonard said, adding that he had no knowledge of an intention to circumvent the salary cap.

The ruling could also clear the way for movement on Leonard’s future. His proposed trade to the Toronto Raptors had been placed on hold while the investigation remained unresolved.

Leonard, who won the NBA championship and Finals MVP award with Toronto in 2019, indicated that his focus is now on returning to the Raptors and moving beyond the controversy.

“As I return to Toronto, I am focussed on what I can control,” Leonard said.