The NBA has handed down its harshest penalty in years against the Los Angeles Clippers after a yearlong investigation found the club circumvented salary-cap rules in connection with star forward Kawhi Leonard. The team will forfeit five first-round draft picks (2029–2033), owner Steve Ballmer has been fined $30 million and suspended for a year from all league and team activities, and senior executives have also been sanctioned, marking a rare and severe intervention by the league.

Investigators concluded Ballmer knowingly helped Leonard pursue off-court income tied to an Aspiration endorsement deal and failed to ensure cap compliance. Business president Gillian Zucker received a one-year unpaid suspension for being primarily responsible and allegedly misleading investigators, while basketball operations president Lawrence Frank was suspended six months. Leonard avoided a game ban or voided contract but must pay $700,000 in restitution over benefits funnelled to his former representative, Dennis Robertson, who has been permanently barred from NBA dealings; Leonard, now with Toronto, denied wrongdoing but acknowledged "lapses in judgment" by his inner circle. The Clippers also face five years of league monitoring, in a punishment even broader than the NBA's closest precedent, the 2000 Minnesota Timberwolves/Joe Smith case.