We're still sorting out the fallout from the L.A. Clippers' salary cap circumvention scandal involving Kawhi Leonard. For now, Leonard's trade to the Toronto Raptors won't be finalized until the Clippers sort out their mess after the NBA handed down its harsh punishment, including executive suspensions and the loss of premium draft picks.
The kicker is that the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver didn't actually want to swing down a huge hammer of a punishment that would define the Clippers' foreseeable future. The NBA wanted to settle, compromise, and still save face by upholding some front-office integrity league-wide. The issue for the Clippers is that owner Steve Ballmer reportedly had no interest in such an agreement, and in fact turned his
nose up at the very idea. In light of Ballmer's petulant stubbornness, the NBA had no choice but to do a lot more than simply slap the Clippers' wrists.
This is the latest reported development, per Pablo Torre, who noted on his show Wednesday that the NBA would've given the Clippers a much less severe punishment if Ballmer had been willing to settle and negotiate with league leadership. Instead, when he shot that premise down, he made the whole situation much worse for the Clippers than it needed to be and, in turn, opened the door to his franchise being made an unfortunate example of:
"Steve Ballmer was fundamentally uninterested in settling."
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 9, 2026
"The NBA was looking forward to settling."@PabloTorre and @TrueHoop on the NBA's refutation of ESPN's story and how the biggest punishment in the history of the league came to be. pic.twitter.com/P2y0UM54hL
To think, all Ballmer had to do was set aside his ego for a second, and the Clippers probably wouldn't have lost half a decade's worth of first-round draft picks. All he had to do was demonstrate some good faith and remorse, and the NBA probably wouldn't have also handed out extended suspensions to him and other members of the Clippers' front office. Instead, he dug in his heels, and here we are.
Until further notice, it's an uphill battle for the Clippers to attain (positive) relevance again for a good while. Ballmer only has himself to blame.
What was Kawhi Leonard's punishment from the NBA?
The NBA fined Leonard $700,000 and banned his longtime associate, Dennis Robertson, from all future dealings.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Steve Ballmer’s stubbornness actually earned Clippers a harsher punishment from NBA
