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The NBA handed down sweeping penalties to the Clippers, owner Steve Ballmer, team executives and star Kawhi Leonard following an investigation into allegations the group circumvented the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
The Clippers said in a statement that they “vehemently reject the NBA’s findings” and vowed to challenge them. Leonard issued a statement saying he had no direct knowledge of the alleged violations.
The findings announced Wednesday, the result of a nearly yearlong investigation conducted by Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, a high-powered New York law firm, determined the Clippers broke NBA rules by initiating off-court income opportunities between Leonard, their seven-time All-NBA forward, and four companies doing business with the team: Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics and Lockton Insurance.
The firm’s report stated that the Clippers facilitated endorsement agreements between the companies and Leonard, induced the companies to enter into the agreements by offering them business from the team, paid personal expenses on behalf of Leonard and his representatives and failed to report improper solicitations for off-court income made on Leonard’s behalf by Dennis Robertson, his uncle and business manager at the time.
The investigation found Leonard received $66 million in endorsement pay from four companies facilitated by Ballmer and Clippers executives at the behest of Robertson. Ballmer invested $60 million in Aspiration, and three other companies received $22 million from the Clippers in consulting fees.
As a result, the NBA issued the following sanctions:
The Clippers are forfeiting five first-round draft picks, in the 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033 NBA drafts, and are fined $30 million.
They had transformed themselves from the ridiculed Clip Joint to a top-shelf NBA organization, but they now have been affixed with a scarlet eight letters that will follow them forever: cheaters.
The Clippers said they cooperated fully with the investigation and will fight “to demonstrate our innocence.”
“The NBA’s findings … are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence,” the team said in a statement. “What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner [Adam] Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure its fairness and accuracy.”
”… We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process.”
The Clippers most likely will have to take their claims to court. A league source not authorized to discuss the sanctions publicly said there is not an arbitration or appeal process. Arbitration is reserved for players, and the National Basketball Players Assn. declined to pursue use of it in this case.
The Clippers released a letter sent to Silver arguing Ballmer spent nearly $50 million funding the investigation and cooperated in every way possible.
