NBA suspends Clippers owner Ballmer, fines team $30M, Kawhi Leonard $700K in cap circumvention case
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The NBA imposed a sweeping punishment against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday for violating salary cap circumvention rules, suspending owner Steve Ballmer for one year and forcing the team to forfeit five draft picks.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The NBA imposed a sweeping punishment against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday for violating salary cap circumvention rules, suspending owner Steve Ballmer for one year and forcing the team to forfeit five draft picks.
Article outline
- What happened
- The key numbers
- The bottom line
Additionally, two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard was hit with a $700, 000 penalty, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was banned for six months and team president of business operations Gillian Zucker was suspended for one year.
Meanwhile, the league came down hard on the organization after a almost yearlong investigation led by an outside law firm.
Meanwhile, the Clippers had remarked multiple times that they had done nothing wrong and anticipated to be exonerated. The team maintained that stance after the league's announcement.
"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 team remarked in an official note. "What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner (Adam) Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure its fairness and accuracy."
Taken together, the developments around NBA suspends Clippers owner Ballmer, fines team $30M, Kawhi Leonard $700K in point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.
