Clippers, Kawhi Leonard face major NBA sanctions

The Los Angeles Clippers’ future roster-building has been severely restricted after the NBA punished the franchise for breaching salary-cap rules. The team must pay $30 million and surrender its first-round draft picks from 2029 through 2033, limiting its ability to improve through the draft over several summers.

Kawhi Leonard was fined $700,000. The sanctions follow his three-year, $153 million contract extension signed with the Clippers in January 2024. The NBA found that the franchise helped Leonard secure additional income through agreements with at least four team partners. Those payments were not included in the salary-cap calculation and would have taken the club above the limit if they had been counted.

The punishment also reaches the organisation’s leadership. Owner Steve Ballmer is barred from NBA and Clippers activities for one year. The franchise’s president of business operations received a one-year unpaid suspension, while its president of basketball operations was suspended for six months. Dennis Robertson, Leonard’s uncle and former adviser, cannot conduct business with any NBA-related person or franchise for five years.

Leonard’s return to the Toronto Raptors, the team with which he won the 2019 championship, is expected to go ahead. The move was completed this summer but had been paused during the NBA investigation. The league’s year-long inquiry ended with sanctions announced on Wednesday.