Steve Ballmer(via Getty)
The team has been fined $30 million and must forfeit five future first-round draft picks. Leonard has been fined $700,000 for his role in the violations. “In early June 2020, at the time of Ms.
Leonard’s services as an endorser or as a result of any request it made to Ms. Within weeks following the ‘introductions,’ either before or on the same day as the companies signed endorsement agreements with Mr.
Investigators said the Clippers appeared to deliberately make their emails look as if companies had requested introductions. The NBA has imposed major penalties on the Los Angeles Clippers after a nearly yearlong investigation into salary cap circumvention involving Kawhi Leonard. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has also been suspended for one year. Team president of business operations Gillian Zucker received a one-year suspension without pay, while president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was suspended for six months. The official statement read, “The Clippers advanced a novel theory addressing one part of the conduct at issue here: that NBA rules permit affirmative (not responsive) introductions of players to business partners for the purpose of helping them generate off-court income if such introductions are requested by the player or his representative. They also found suspicious financial links between the companies and the team. Zucker’s ‘introductions,’ none of Boingo, Daktronics, and Lockton had commercial agreements with the Clippers, but all three companies were in active discussions to provide business services to the team or its arena. Leonard, each company entered into a multi-million dollar consulting agreement with the Clippers”, the statement added. “The facts surrounding the Daktronics-Leonard endorsement agreement make the conclusion explicit: that company’s agreement with Mr. Leonard was not arranged independently of the Clippers, by virtue of Daktronics’ affirmative interest in Mr. Zucker for an “introduction. Rather, investigators conclude, it was procured by the Clippers in exchange for other business that the team would and did supply to Daktronics”, the statement further stated. The Clippers have rejected the NBA’s findings and are expected to challenge the penalties.
The findings could also have major consequences for the franchise’s future plans, including Leonard’s position with the team and the previously agreed blockbuster trade involving the Toronto Raptors.