Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The NBA just handed the Los Angeles Clippers the biggest fine in league history, and the Kawhi Leonard investigation is finally over. Sort of.
Here's what came down on September 2, 2026: the Clippers forfeit five first-round picks (2029 through 2033), the team is fined $30 million, owner Steve Ballmer is suspended for one year, team president Gillian Zucker is suspended one year without pay, and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank is suspended six months. Kawhi Leonard pays $700,000. His uncle Dennis Robertson is banned from NBA business for five years.
Sixteen days ago ESPN reported the league found no evidence Ballmer paid Kawhi. Today the NBA's own release says Ballmer acted "knowingly." And buried in that release is a phrase almost nobody caught: the league called the Clippers "a prior offender." That's the 2015 DeAndre Jordan case, when the NBA fined the Clippers $250,000 for the same category of violation and Ballmer told his staff it was "inadvertent."
The league also says Zucker gave "false and misleading statements to investigators," that Wachtell Lipton "continues to receive information," and that it "will consider further action as appropriate." Same day, Daktronics disclosed on its earnings call that the SEC is seeking information about the company and Leonard.
Kawhi, through his new agent, accepted "full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle" and confirmed he's returning to Toronto.
The full 15-minute breakdown, Kawhi Part 6, is on the channel. Parts 1 through 5 are in the playlist.
#nba #clippers #laclippers #kawhileonard #steveballmer #adamsilver #raptors #torontoraptors #nbanews #nbaoffseason #basketball #nbashorts #salarycap #theflightmike #basketball #basketballnews #basketballshorts #losangelesclippers #kawhi
The NBA just handed the Los Angeles Clippers the biggest fine in league history, and the Kawhi Leonard investigation is finally over. Sort of.
Here's what came down on September 2, 2026: the Clippers forfeit five first-round picks (2029 through 2033), the team is fined $30 million, owner Steve Ballmer is suspended for one year, team president Gillian Zucker is suspended one year without pay, and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank is suspended six months. Kawhi Leonard pays $700,000. His uncle Dennis Robertson is banned from NBA business for five years.
Sixteen days ago ESPN reported the league found no evidence Ballmer paid Kawhi. Today the NBA's own release says Ballmer acted "knowingly." And buried in that release is a phrase almost nobody caught: the league called the Clippers "a prior offender." That's the 2015 DeAndre Jordan case, when the NBA fined the Clippers $250,000 for the same category of violation and Ballmer told his staff it was "inadvertent."
The league also says Zucker gave "false and misleading statements to investigators," that Wachtell Lipton "continues to receive information," and that it "will consider further action as appropriate." Same day, Daktronics disclosed on its earnings call that the SEC is seeking information about the company and Leonard.
Kawhi, through his new agent, accepted "full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle" and confirmed he's returning to Toronto.
The full 15-minute breakdown, Kawhi Part 6, is on the channel. Parts 1 through 5 are in the playlist.
#nba #clippers #laclippers #kawhileonard #steveballmer #adamsilver #raptors #torontoraptors #nbanews #nbaoffseason #basketball #nbashorts #salarycap #theflightmike #basketball #basketballnews #basketballshorts #losangelesclippers #kawhi
