LA Clippers fined $30m over Leonard pay scandal
The LA Clippers have been fined $30m (£22.2m) by the NBA for violating salary rules in order to funnel millions of dollars to star player Kawhi Leonard.
The fine – the largest in the league’s history – comes after the NBA report said Leonard pressured the Clippers into “obtaining off-court income opportunities [and] successfully obtaining those opportunities”.
The investigation was opened in September 2025 when podcast journalist Pablo Torre reported that a $28m (£20.8m) endorsement contract between Leonard and Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC could have broken league rules.
The Clippers will also have to forfeit five first-round draft picks between 2029 and 2033, while owner Steve Ballmer has been suspended from all league and team activities for 12 months for his role in matters involving Leonard’s sponsorship contracts.
Two-time NBA champion Leonard has been fined $700,000 (£520,000) by the league.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he was “deeply disappointed” by the Clippers’ “flagrant violations” of the rules and said the “severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations”.
Clippers president of business operations Gillian Zucker has been suspended for one year without pay for providing “misleading statements to investigators”.
The NBA said its month-long investigation “found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organisation, a prior offender of the salary-cap circumvention rules”.
Following the ruling, Leonard, 35, said he “accepts full responsibility” for his actions and “regrets 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 wrote on Instagram.
The two-time NBA Finals MVP joined the Clippers in 2019 and spent seven years with the franchise before leaving this year.
The NBA said the “organisation and personnel” of the Clippers will be subject to a compliance and monitoring programme overseen by the league for five years.
Clippers to appeal against ‘witch hunt’ fine
The Clippers said they would appeal against the decision “through every avenue available”.
“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,” read a Clippers 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.”
Leonard is now expected to complete his move to Toronto Raptors, which was on hold until the investigation was completed.
Ballmer’s attorney David Kelley said in a statement – released by the Clippers, according to ESPN – that suggested the team and his client has been subject of a “witch hunt” and the punishments were a “gross injustice”.
“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 said.
By BBC Sports