The NBA announced significant penalties to the Los Angeles Clippers for violating salary cap circumvention rules when they signed Kawhi Leonard. A league investigation discovered a "pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations" by the Clippers. The NBA revealed sweeping punishments for the organization, stripping it of five first-round draft picks from 2029 to 2033.
The league also fined the Clippers $30 million and suspended owner Steve Ballmer from all team and NBA activities for a year. They also suspended president of business operations Gillian Zucker without pay for one year and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank for six months. The Clippers immediately released a statement after the news broke revealing they plan to appeal the NBA's ruling, however, it should be noted that the NBA does not have a formal internal appeal or arbitration process for them to use.
"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," the statement read. "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. "For the past year, we cooperated fully and in good faith and we will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence."We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process." The Clippers will be subject to a league compliance and monitoring program for five years.
"I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers’ institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. "The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations." The NBA's investigation determined that the Clippers orchestrated off-court income opportunities between Leonard and four companies in exchange for business with the team. They also paid for the star player's personal expenses and failed to report off-court income deals that former business manager Dennis Robertson made on Leonard's behalf.
The league said Leonard also violated cap circumvention rules "by pressuring the Clippers to assist him in obtaining off-court income opportunities, successfully obtaining those opportunities, and failing to reimburse payments by the Clippers for personal expenses." Leonard, who must pay a $700,000 fine, issued a statement through his agent to ESPN's Shams Charania. "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."
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