Was Clippers punishment from NBA too harsh, too soft or just right? Writers weigh in

The NBA’s long-awaited investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers and their role in Kawhi Leonard’s lucrative endorsement deals concluded on Wednesday with the team receiving some of the harshest penalties ever issued by the NBA.

The team lost five first-round picks, Steve Ballmer received a one-year suspension and his team received a record $30 million fine. The Clippers’ lead basketball and business executives were also suspended.

The immediate aftermath, though, opened the door to some bigger questions. The Clippers vowed to fight, claiming they were being unfairly punished. Are their alleged actions that common, and if they are, will other teams stand down? Was the league too harsh by decimating the Clippers’ future first-round picks? And what about Leonard, who seemed to avoid severe penalty?

As everyone processed the findings, The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski and Christian Clark hopped into the chat to sift through the wreckage of a massive NBA news story.

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What was your initial gut reaction to the news?

Krawczynski: Not suitable for an outlet as august as the New York Times.

As the investigation dragged on and I spoke to people around the league about it, it just seemed like the NBA was having a hard time gathering its own evidence or verifying the reporting from Pablo Torre Finds Out. Why were things taking so long?

So when the news finally dropped, it was one of those true holy bleep moments. Five draft picks? Suspensions for Ballmer, Lawrence Frank and Gillian Zucker? Uncle Dennis being put on ice? I did not see all of that coming.

Clark: I literally gasped out loud.

Five first-round picks? Not one person in the NBA I spoke to in the year since Pablo Torre broke this story open believed the league would bring the hammer down like this.

This was the strongest action Adam Silver has taken to improper and unethical behavior since he banned then-Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life in 2014. I don’t think, politically speaking, that was a difficult move to make. Sterling was a bad and unpopular owner who made racist remarks about one of the league’s legends.

I’m not saying this ruling regarding the Clippers was incorrect, but Silver is going to get much more pushback this time. The suspended Ballmer has unlimited resources, and the Clippers have already said they intend to fight this ruling.

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What You Should Read Next

Timeline of Kawhi Leonard, Clippers and Steve Ballmer events that led to NBA investigation

What led up to this latest controversy?

With the evidence available to us, let’s go with a Goldilocks approach: Was the punishment of the Clippers too soft, too harsh or just right?

Krawczynski: I think Goldilocks is eating the entire bowl of this punishment porridge. If we take the NBA’s findings at face value, Adam Silver had to act harshly because the precedent was already set with the Joe Smith-Minnesota Timberwolves cap circumvention punishment in 2000.

Letting the Clippers off easy would have looked like he was cowering to Ballmer’s wealth and influence and would have done little to deter other teams from continuing this practice.

Clark: Just right. Two things stuck out to me reading Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz’s summation of its findings.

One was that the investigators pointed out that the Clippers had previously been punished for salary cap circumvention. In 2015, the NBA determined that the Clippers illegally facilitated an endorsement opportunity for DeAndre Jordan and were fined $250,000.

Secondly, Wachtell Lipton concluded that the Clippers never reported Dennis Robertson’s demands to financially benefit in ways that violated the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement from 2020 onward. This was relevant because the NBA introduced a rule about this very issue in 2019, after Robertson asked Leonard’s free agency suitors for team equity and housing, among other things.

The Clippers were repeat offenders and broke a rule the NBA had recently instituted about the need to report players’ representatives asking for illegal benefits. Letting the Clippers off lightly here wasn’t going to be sufficient.

How about Kawhi’s punishment: Too soft, too harsh, just right?

Krawczynski: If there was an area where you could deem the punishment too soft, it would be with Kawhi. A $700,000 fine seems like a lot to you and me, but that’s a drop in the bucket for Leonard. Remember, when the Timberwolves were caught circumventing the salary cap, the player who benefited, veteran forward Joe Smith, had his contract voided. But that is because the Wolves violated the CBA with his playing contract. I think the playing contract that Leonard signed was legit. It’s just all the extra stuff that the NBA found was out of bounds.

That said, I do think Leonard should have received some sort of suspension as well, even if it was only a few games. In not doing that, the league is clearly placing the bulk of the blame on the Clippers and Robertson. Kawhi should have more accountability in this.

Clark: Too soft. Leonard is going to have to pay a $700,000 fine, which for someone of his status, feels like the equivalent of a very expensive parking ticket. Wachtell Lipton’s report concluded that Leonard received $18 million from Boingo, Daktronics and Lockton alone by August 2021. Leonard is only being required to fork back a meager sum of what he made on these endorsement deals the Clippers improperly facilitated. I agree with Jon that Leonard should have to serve some sort of suspension.

What kind of message does this punishment of the Clippers send to the rest of the NBA? Will it actually discourage copycat behavior from teams? Should it be satisfying to fans and rival execs?

Krawczynski: In speaking with a couple of executives around the league about it, the ruling certainly has everyone’s attention. Five draft picks is as close to a death sentence for team building as you can get. Draft picks are the lifeblood of the league, used to add young talent or trade for more established players. Losing five of them is a tremendous blow to a Clippers team that is already in transition after trading Leonard to Toronto.

And the suspensions for Ballmer and Frank show that no one is above consequence. You can bet that the rest of the league has taken notice. In a league filled with cutthroat competitors, a slap on the wrist could have resulted in more teams pushing the envelope. A crackdown this severe will make everyone think twice, or maybe four or five times, about doing anything even remotely close to this.

Clark: “Don’t even think about trying this” is the message the NBA is sending here.

No one I spoke to over the past year believed that Adam Silver had it in him to punish the Clippers and Ballmer, the NBA’s richest owner, so severely. Multiple current and former team employees told me they considered this the “death penalty” when the NBA announced the results of the investigation Wednesday afternoon.

The Clippers are out five first-round picks, their owner is suspended for one year, and their lead basketball executive is suspended for six months without pay. So yes, I think this will discourage teams from attempting salary cap circumvention. This penalty was brutal.

Given all that the Clippers gave up to initially acquire Leonard and Paul George (trading future MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a boatload of picks for George), how poorly has that aged? Where does that rank among the worst decisions in NBA history?

Krawczynski: I want to break this into two parts. First off, at the time that the Clippers signed Kawhi, literally any team in the league would have done the exact same thing. He was coming off leading the Raptors to an NBA title, with a legitimate claim to the label of best player in the league. When Leonard told the Clippers to go get George, most other teams would have said, “Whatever you say.”

The team was highly disappointing on the court, but it’s hard to use revisionist history and grade the results when you add that context. But in terms of engaging in the under-the-table dealings that the NBA says they did and the punishment that came with it?

That absolutely belongs on the short list of blunders from a front office and ownership group.

Clark: It’s a terrible decision in hindsight, but I absolutely understand why the Clippers gave up so much to unite Leonard and George in L.A. In 2019, Leonard had a strong argument that he was the best player in the world. He’d just averaged 30.5 points on 49/38/88 shooting splits in the playoffs and been named Finals MVP. George was also coming off a career year, one in which he’d finished third in MVP voting.

I’m sure it was painful for the Clippers to part with a haul of five first-rounders, two picks swaps and Gilgeous-Alexander — who was then coming off a sixth-place finish in Rookie of the Year voting — but I’m betting every other NBA team would have done the same thing if they had been in that position.

Obviously, this transaction went horribly wrong for the Clippers, but surrendering all of that for two elite wings who were still in their 20s wasn’t an obviously awful decision in the moment like the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Dončić trade was, for example.

What’s the next turn you’re watching? What unresolved questions should fans have and what could happen next?

Krawczynski: Judging by the statement the Clippers posted in response to the ruling, we can anticipate a whole lot of lawyers getting involved. They cannot appeal the ruling to the league, which indicates that the next round of this fight would have to be in the courts. How it gets there and what happens from there is anyone’s guess.

If I were a Clippers fan, I would be looking hard at how the Wolves saga played out. Minnesota was docked five first rounders in the initial punishment, but that was eventually reduced to three. That might be their best hope for a little bit of reprieve. Otherwise, the next few years look awfully daunting in that brand new arena.

Clark: The Clippers said they plan to challenge these findings “through every avenue available,” and Ballmer has an infinite money cannon at his disposal. There will be lots and lots of lawyers. The big question to me: When the Clippers lay down their swords, will they really be out five first-round picks? Our Dan Woike has reported that there is no appeal process for the Clippers to pursue with the NBA. I would imagine this means the Clippers try to take the NBA to court, which will pit the best lawyers money can buy against Silver, the lawyer in charge of the NBA.

“Pablo Torre Finds Out” is produced by Meadowlark Media and became part of The Athletic Podcast Network in September through a licensing deal.