Home · Sports · Sep 3 archive
Clippers docked 5 first-round picks, fined $30M
Developing
In Short: The NBA fines the Los Angeles Clippers $30 million and suspends owner Steve Ballmer and executives over alleged salary cap rule circumvention.
The NBA has imposed one of its harshest penalties ever on the Los Angeles Clippers, fining the team $30 million and suspending owner Steve Ballmer and two executives, while stripping the franchise of five first-round draft picks.
The penalty follows an investigation that found the Clippers had circumvented league salary cap rules by facilitating endorsement agreements between Kawhi Leonard and several companies that also did business with the team.
Leonard himself was fined $700,000 and suspended for violating league rules by pressuring the Clippers to assist him in obtaining off-court income opportunities.
The team vehemently rejects the NBA findings, calling them a biased investigation aimed at justifying a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence.
What's confirmed
What's still developing
- In one of the largest basketball-related penalties ever levied against an NBA franchise in the league’s history, the NBA on Wednesday fined the Los Angeles Clippers $30 million and star Kawhi Leonard $700,000,…
- The Clippers “vehemently reject the NBA findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence,” the team said in a statement.
- According to the investigation, the Clippers broke league rules by initiating off-court income opportunities and facilitating endorsement agreements between Leonard and four companies that also did business with the…
- The Clippers were “inducing the companies to enter into these agreements by offering them business from the team,” the league said.
- Leonard also violated league rules by pressuring the Clippers, through his uncle, to “assist him in obtaining off-court income opportunities, successfully obtaining those opportunities, and failing to reimburse…
Sources
- NBC Newslink