Clippers fined $30 million as owner Steve Ballmer is suspended for a year following NBA investigation on behind-the-curtain deal

The NBA announced on Wednesday that the league would impose sweeping punishments on the LA Clippers and Kawhi Leonard following its investigation into allegations of third-party off-the-court income opportunities given to Leonard. The league found the NBA star and the team had violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement—and “a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations.”

The investigation was initially conducted from Leonard’s reported $28 million endorsement deal given by Aspiration, a now-bankrupt environmental company and former Clippers sponsor.

“Aspiration becoming our first Founding Partner supports the stake we are planting in the ground to make Intuit Dome the most sustainable arena in the world,” Ballmer said in a statement in 2021.

The allegations of misconduct were first reported by podcaster and journalist Pablo Torre in 2025—where he alleged on his podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” that the endorsement deal given to Leonard was “to circumvent the salary cap.” Ballmer had previously invested $50 million in the company ahead of Leonard’s deal, and invested an additional $10 million in 2023.

The findings also went well beyond Aspiration: the NBA said the Clippers “affirmatively initiated off-court income opportunities” between Leonard and three other companies doing business with the team—Boingo Wireless, Daktronics and Lockton Insurance.

The allegations kicked off a near year-long independent investigation by the NBA—conducted by law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

Following the conclusion of the 2025-26 NBA season, Leonard told reporters he believed the investigation would find no wrongdoing.

“I think we’re going to be in the clear,” he said. “It’s not stressing.”

But it appears the NBA star and Toronto legend may have been wrong. The league has penalized the Clippers and individuals involved in the alleged misconduct in one of the most punishing moves the league has enacted in its history. Owner Steve Ballmer will be suspended from “all league and team activities” for one year for approving “a business deal” that helped Leonard “obtain off-court income opportunities.”

Additional penalties included a $30 million fine on the Clippers organization, forfeiture of five first-round picks from 2029 to 2033, a $700,000 fine on Leonard himself and a one year suspension on Clippers president Gillian Zucker and a six-month suspension on president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank.

The penalties were confirmed by the NBA and NBPA, according to the NBA. Wachtell Lipton will continue to receive information “relevant to the investigation,” and the league can consider further action if appropriate.

“The NBA’s collectively bargained system for determining player compensation is a fundamental component of the basketball competition that the league oversees for the benefit of the teams and players and ultimately the fans,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a press release. “I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers’ institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct. The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations.”

However, according to a letter from the Clippers sent to Silver shared by reporter Marc Stein on X, Ballmer and the Clippers disagree with the investigation’s findings. David Kelley, an attorney representing Ballmer, wrote the investigation was a “witch hunt” and “flies in the face of fundamental fairness.”

“We are exploring every legal remedy to address this gross injustice,” the letter read.

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