NBA Fines Clippers $30 Million, Strips Five Draft Picks, and Bans Ballmer for One Year Over Salary Cap Violations (September 2, 2026)

The NBA concluded its year-long investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, finding the team violated salary cap rules and handing down penalties described as the harshest in league history: a $30 million fine, the loss of five first-round draft picks starting in 2029, and a one-year ban on owner Steve Ballmer. The Clippers have vowed to challenge the findings. The law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz conducted the investigation and released a 35-page summary of findings. The firm found that Ballmer, team executive Zucker, and another executive named Frank played major roles in the scheme. According to the NBA's report, over the course of six days in early June 2020, Zucker sent a series of email introductions connecting Leonard's agent to representatives of Boingo, Daktronics, and Lockton. The emails were written in a way aimed at giving the appearance of complying with circumvention rules, per the report. The following month, Leonard signed multiyear, multimillion-dollar endorsement deals with two of the companies on the same day, and within a month had signed a similar deal with the third company. None of these agreements were publicly announced, defeating the foundational purpose of an endorsement agreement to obtain associational benefits for the company. All three companies also signed multimillion-dollar agreements with the Clippers, and the money the team paid to the companies may have been made principally to fund the endorsement deals with Leonard. The fourth company, Lockton Insurance, had not been previously reported as part of the scheme. The report also found that in some cases, the Clippers went as far as developing and communicating specific deal terms. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated in a release: "The NBA's collectively bargained system for determining player compensation is a fundamental component of the basketball competition that the league oversees for the benefit of the teams and players and ultimately the fans. I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers' institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct. The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations." The league and players union agreed to the punishments, which means there will be no appeal. The investigation was announced on September 3, 2025, the same day podcaster Pablo Torre reported that Ballmer had arranged a no-show job for Leonard with environmental start-up Aspiration worth millions. Lockton refused to cooperate with investigators, while Boingo initially agreed to cooperate but then supplied faulty information. Aspiration and Daktronics were helpful. The Clippers and their lawyers delayed responses to information requests and operated in an adversarial manner that slowed investigators' ability to gather facts. Zucker made statements inconsistent with documents and other witness accounts, and claimed she could not remember details about important issues while blaming subordinates. The Clippers said late Wednesday that they vehemently reject the conclusions, calling the investigation heavily biased and saying they plan to vigorously challenge the NBA sanctions through every avenue available. In a statement to Commissioner Silver, team leadership accused him of breaking promises of a fair investigation and stated that if the league spent $50 million investigating any team, it would find instances of personnel making introductions to sponsors and vendors in response to player requests. The Clippers also claimed that the NBA's counsel acknowledged the league does not believe there was an agreement between the Clippers and Aspiration to funnel money to Leonard. The report rejected what it called a "novel theory" pushed by Ballmer and the team: that NBA rules allow affirmative introductions of players to business partners to help generate off-court income if requested by players. The report states: "The Clippers offered no persuasive explanation for how this theory comports with the clear language of the circumvention rules." Leonard's uncle and former business manager, Dennis Robertson, was banned from the league for five years. Leonard announced on Instagram that he accepts full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within his inner circle. Leonard's only punishment is a $700,000 payment to the league. The Clippers now have no natural draft pick from 2029 through 2033 after forfeiting five first-round selections.