NBA Imposes One-Year Ban on Clippers Owner in Kawhi Leonard Salary-Cap Scandal

The NBA handed sweeping sanctions to the Los Angeles Clippers over salary-cap circumvention linked to Kawhi Leonard: owner Steve Ballmer is suspended for one year, the team is fined $30 million and forfeits five first-round picks, and a five-year league monitoring program will oversee compliance. Clippers executives Gillian Zucker (one year, unpaid) and Lawrence Frank (six months, unpaid) were suspended, while Leonard was ordered to pay $700,000 and his uncle Dennis Robertson was banned from league matters for five years. The league-commissioned report found a pattern of misconduct; the Clippers and Leonard plan to appeal the findings and penalties.