09/02/26 04:09:00
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09/02 16:07 CDT NBA suspends Clippers owner Ballmer, fines team $30M, Kawhi
Leonard $700K in cap circumvention case
NBA suspends Clippers owner Ballmer, fines team $30M, Kawhi Leonard $700K in
cap circumvention case
By BETH HARRIS
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --- Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has been
suspended for one year by the NBA, the team will forfeit five first-round draft
picks from 2029 to 2033, and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank
has been banned for six months for violating salary cap circumvention rules.
The league came down hard on the organization after a nearly year-long
investigation led by an outside law firm.
The Clippers had said multiple times that they had done nothing wrong and
expected to be exonerated.
Also, president of business operations Gillian Zucker was suspended for one
year, the team was fined $30 million, and star player Kawhi Leonard was hit
with a $700,000 penalty.
"I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner
circle and regret the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my
family," Leonard said in a statement issued through his new agent, Harrison
Gaines.
The NBA said Leonard, through his former business manager and uncle Dennis
Robertson, "violated the circumvention rules by pressuring the Clippers to
assist him in obtaining off-court income opportunities, successfully obtaining
those opportunities, and failing to reimburse payments by the Clippers for
personal expenses."
"I entered into my contract with the Clippers as well as the agreements in
question in good faith, fully committed to fulfilling my obligations and with
no knowledge of any intent on anyone's part to circumvent the salary cap,"
Leonard said in his statement.
The league said Ballmer was suspended for "knowingly seeking to help Mr.
Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities," among other issues.
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