What was the final cost for the Los Angeles Clippers acquiring Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in 2019?
Just as the organization had finally paid off their significant draft pick haul of five first rounders, two pick swaps and future two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to Oklahoma City to secure Leonard's running mate from seven years ago, the NBA dropped the hammer on the Clippers.
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz's independent investigation concluded that the Clippers violated the league's salary cap circumvention rules by facilitating side deals between Leonard and four companies: Aspiration, Daktronics, Boingo Wireless and Lockton Insurance and offering them business from the team in exchange for entering into agreements with Leonard.
Among the
several sanctions announced by the league against the team, owner Steve Ballmer and other high-ranking front office members, the Clippers are being stripped of five-first round draft picks in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033.
Fines of $30 million for the team and $700,000 for Leonard were also levied while Ballmer and president of business operations Gillian Zucker received one-year suspensions; president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was also suspended for six months without pay. Additionally, the Clippers must enter into a compliance and monitoring program overseen by the league office over the next five years.
"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," commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations."
Where do the Clippers go from here?
Clippers future after NBA punishes team, Kawhi Leonard
First, the Toronto Raptors need to decide whether they want to go through with the previously agreed upon trade for Leonard. That deal was paused until the conclusion of the investigation. Now, with the superstar at the center of the scandal emerging relatively unscathed, that essentially clears the way for the trade to move forward. Assuming the deal gets done, LA gets back Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and two unprotected first-round picks, two second rounders and a first-round pick swap in 2027.
Because of this trade and the deal they made to acquire James Harden from the Philadelphia 76ers in 2023, the Clippers still have some draft capital. They will own one first rounder in 2031 and 2033 after that deal and forfeit the lone picks they had in 2030 and 2032. They will also lose either the unprotected pick they got from the Indiana Pacers in the Ivica Zubac trade or the top-three protected pick swap with the Sixers in 2029.
But even with that, the future in Inglewood looks about as muggy as the unusual humidity that's bogged down the city for much of the summer.
Before his suspension, Lawrence Frank was adamant that although the Clippers are no longer contenders, he does expect them to stay competitive. The roster reflects that gray area. Darius Garland arrived in February as part of the Cleveland Cavaliers' return package for James Harden. Bradley Beal joined the team after getting bought out by the Phoenix Suns and expected to be part of a three-headed monster alongside Leonard and Harden before fracturing his hip just six games into the 2025-26 season. He returns after agreeing to a new two-year $13.27 million contract not to be a third star, but now as a veteran presence in a locker room that got a lot younger.
Keaton Wagler, the No. 5 overall pick in June, stands as the Clippers' biggest roster addition this offseason. Instead of a major splash like we've seen Ballmer's teams make in recent years, the team pursued moves along the margins such as bringing in Rui Hachimura, Brook Lopez and Max Strus in free agency. Vets Nicolas Batum, Bogdan Bogdanovic and John Collins all walked.
But it's not like the Clippers have the flexibility to make any big moves happen right now. Once the Leonard trade goes through, roughly half of their cap space this season will be tied up in two players, Garland and Ingram, who are set to make over $82 million combined this season according to Spotrac. They might be able to swing a trade, but that seems unlikely this year without their top basketball ops executive or any tradeable draft assets. Ingram is set to be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
They don't even have flexibility for moves in the long-term, either. Frank said it himself months ago.
"There’s not much left in the piggy bank prior to this trade in terms of premium picks," He told The Athletic at the trade deadline. "We’ve kind of gone all in, all in, all in. We’ve made a bunch of trades to kind of please today’s team. … OK, how are we gonna bridge this era to the next era? And with it is, guys who are part of the team now can also be part of the next era.
"But if everyone is part of the team, there’s a cliff. And … it could take years, years to get out of it."
Now, it could take even longer than that.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What does severe NBA Kawhi punishment mean for Clippers future?
