After nearly a year of independent investigation conducted by the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the NBA announced wide-ranging penalties for the LA Clippers and Kawhi Leonard. The final report asserted that the punishment stems from "violating the salary cap circumvention rules contained in the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement," and from a basketball standpoint, the headliner is the docking of draft picks from the Clippers.
HOW many first round picks?
As part of the announced findings, the league indicated the Clippers "shall forfeit five first-round draft picks, one in each of the 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033 NBA Drafts." Subsequent reporting from Zach Lowe and others points to the 2029 selection coming from the Indiana Pacers as part of the Ivica Zubac trade, pointing to a more harsh punishment in that case given the unprotected nature of the pick.
In short, the NBA took away basically every draft-related tool for the Clippers that does not directly affect another NBA team, attempting to avoid collateral damage.
Of course, the league did levy additional non-draft penalties, including a $30 million organizational fine, suspensions for Steve Ballmer, Gillian Zucker (Clippers President of Business Operations) and Lawrence Frank. As a result of the substantial findings, many presumed that the Clippers would immediately appeal the ruling, but multiple outlets soon reported that there is no appeal or arbitration process in place for the organization to do so in a direct manner.
According to a source with knowledge - there is no appeal/arbitration process for the Clippers to pursue with the NBA. It's not a right teams have. The NBPA could've pursued arbitration, but it accepted findings and punishments. They'd need relief elsewhere. https://t.co/ifewhbUeIE
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) September 2, 2026
The Clippers did release a lengthy organizational statement that included reference to the intention to "vigorously challenges these findings and penalties through every avenue available," though it is unclear what that attempt will look like. Regardless of potential efficacy in that realm, there is another way that the penalties could at least soften for the Clippers over time.
The Clippers have to hope for mercy
Throughout the process, the most common comparison point for the investigation into Leonard and the Clippers is what transpired with Joe Smith and the Minnesota Timberwolves. A quarter-century ago. In short, the Wolves signed Smith to a pair of one-year contracts and, after a discovery process as part of a lawsuit involving Smith's agents, documents came to the surface that proved there was an official (and secretive) agreement between the two sides that Smith would receive a lucrative contract the following year after re-establishing his Bird Rights. As such, it was a textbook case of salary cap circumvention, and the NBA brought the hammer down on Minnesota.
The punishment for the Wolves was headlined by the stripping of five consecutive first round draft picks (from 2001 to 2005) and that, of course, somewhat mirrors the five-pick penalty assessed to Los Angeles. However, the NBA eventually returned two of the five picks (2003 and 2005) back to the Wolves, meaning that the final penalty was "only" three first round picks.
Obviously, there is nothing concrete to say that the Clippers will follow a similar path, especially given the clear differences in the cases and a different commissioner (Adam Silver instead of David Stern) at the helm. Still, this is the closest case and, in simply accepting the punishment at the time, perhaps the Wolves earned enough goodwill to benefit with the penalty reduction.
To date, that does not seem to be the tone taken by the Clippers organization, especially when reading their full letter to Silver in the wake of the announcement. The next steps will be interesting as a result but, for now, five picks have been removed from the Clippers' coffers and there is no guarantee that will change anytime soon.
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