{"id":2129400,"date":"2026-09-05T07:30:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T04:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2129400"},"modified":"2026-09-05T07:30:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T04:30:04","slug":"kenny-smith-says-nbas-clippers-punishment-is-appropriate-they-cheated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2129400","title":{"rendered":"Kenny Smith Says NBA&#8217;s Clippers&#8217; Punishment Is Appropriate, They Cheated"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/imagez.tmz.com\/image\/ff\/16by9\/2026\/09\/04\/ffe0028d065840bdb991af04ae526207_xl.png&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"article article--permalink \">\n<header class=\"article__header\">\n<h1 class=\"article__header--headline-title\">Kenny Smith Says NBA&#8217;s Clippers&#8217; Punishment Is Appropriate, They Cheated<\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"article__header--headline-fragments\"><span class=\"article__header--hf1 text-uppercase h3\">Kenny Smith<\/span><span class=\"article__header--hf2 text-uppercase h1\">Clippers Cheated<\/span><span class=\"article__header--hf3 text-none h2\">&#8230; Now They Pay The Price<\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"social-media-container\" role=\"region\">\n<ul class=\"social social--sm\">\n<li>\n<div class=\"media-swipe\">Exclusive<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"social-item\">\n<li class=\"social-item\">\n<li class=\"social-item\"><\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tmz.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"google-preferred-btn js-track-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"google-preferred-btn__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/static.tmz.com\/tmz-web\/img\/article\/google-icon.svg\" alt=\"Google\" loading=\"lazy\"><span class=\"google-preferred-btn__title\">Add TMZ on Google<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"byline\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/pages\/about\/\">TMZ Staff<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"date-wrapper\">\n                                                                        Published <time class=\"published-datetime\" datetime=\"2026-09-05T00:30:04-07:00\"><br \/>\n                              September 5, 2026<br \/>\n                            12:30 AM PDT<\/time><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article__blocks clearfix\">\n<section id=\"cb-0f2efd6b332ebdaef6adf3a6d400a89f\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-video-block canvas-video-block-permalink canvas-video-block--default  canvas-block-is-first \">\n<div class=\"video-block\">\n<div class=\"ratio ratio-16x9\">\n<div id=\"video-player-579d2cf6-b144-43fc-9fbf-9c87ba01ea6b-1487201437-image-holder\" class=\"ratio ratio-item video-block__image-holder\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/imagez.tmz.com\/image\/94\/16by9\/2026\/09\/04\/948f7fcc08eb46f8839ea4c7d8e39a94_md.png\" alt=\"090426_kenny_smith_kawhi_KAL\" width=\"728\" height=\"410\" class=\"img-fluid\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<footer id=\"video-player-579d2cf6-b144-43fc-9fbf-9c87ba01ea6b-1487201437-footer\" class=\"media-footer video-block__media-footer\"><span class=\"media-launch-text video-block__media-launch-text\">Bronny&#8217;s Breakout?<\/span><\/footer>\n<div class=\"video-block__media-info\">\n<div class=\"video-block__media-permalink\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/watch\/kenny-smith-on-bronny-james-090426\/\">Video: Kenny Smith Says NBA&#8217;s Clippers&#8217; Punishment Is Appropriate, They Cheated<\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"media-credit video-block__media-credit\">TMZSports.com<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-fe55e821b792baf20baadc0f52a23f4a\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/people\/kenny-smith\/\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><strong>Kenny Smith<\/strong><\/a> admits the NBA went straight for the Clippers&#8217; neck, but he doesn&#8217;t think the punishment was excessive &#8230; when you consider <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/people\/steve-ballmer\/\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><strong>Steve Ballmer<\/strong><\/a>&#8216;s team skirted the rules in a major way!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-4d80c694c6aa423118774b29c06b87cc\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/sports\/\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><strong>TMZ Sports<\/strong><\/a> spotted the hooper-turned-analyst at LAX on Friday, and asked him whether The Association went too hard.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-a592389a63c34a9781248fe77aeb255b\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-image-block canvas-image-block-permalink canvas-image-block--default  \">\n<div class=\"image-block\"><a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_jpg_20170331_50c34aea2f8055808ad5bf2d6dd5d821\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:25a95fe2-28b7-4573-9825-bc3e8e2bd1ef\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"img-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/imagez.tmz.com\/image\/50\/4by3\/2017\/03\/31\/50c34aea2f8055808ad5bf2d6dd5d821_md.jpg\" alt=\"Steve Ballmer, LA Clippers owner\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-7c2a5a0b0f47a9d661fd0b74cfc451a2\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re gonna have to suffer consequences for that kind of behavior,&#8221; Smith told us.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-152e4294c6080f76789f297ce820396f\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re vehemently cheating. You&#8217;re not just toeing the line. You&#8217;re actually cheating and you&#8217;re cheating at a high level. You&#8217;re circumventing the salary cap. You&#8217;re giving yourself an unfair advantage that no one else has, and you have to have severe penalties for that or other people will say, &#8216;Well we can do it.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-844502020a1853d30a3f4db8be7782a1\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p>With that said, did the NBA go too light on the team? Kenny doesn&#8217;t think so.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-3e468ae68ec08c8f9671db4be42cf5ea\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s gonna cripple their franchise possibly for the next five to seven years,&#8221; Smith said, adding, &#8220;You take away five years of draft picks, that&#8217;s your core of how you develop your team. So yeah, it&#8217;s definitely tough.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-56b5dd56b54869b311474e23833d2eb6\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-image-block canvas-image-block-permalink canvas-image-block--default  \">\n<div class=\"image-block\"><a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_jpg_20250108_1b621f5dd27f4d1ab75332c0b947b94a\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:25a95fe2-28b7-4573-9825-bc3e8e2bd1ef\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"img-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/imagez.tmz.com\/image\/1b\/4by3\/2025\/01\/08\/1b621f5dd27f4d1ab75332c0b947b94a_md.jpg\" alt=\"kawhi leonard la clippers sub getty swipe\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"image-block__card-footer\"><span class=\"media-credit image-block__media-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-0e4022458c4f33e06f8168794e14c7c8\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p>First-rounders aside, Ballmer&#8217;s team was also fined $30 million, and the owner was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2026\/09\/02\/nba-punishes-clippers-kawhi-leonard-steve-ballmer\/\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><strong>suspended<\/strong><\/a> for an entire season &#8230; as were several other execs.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-b06b720886a92845ac6d3efcd71b2a9b\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p>The only one who wasn&#8217;t hit hard &#8212; at least that&#8217;s the consensus &#8212; was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/people\/kawhi-leonard\/\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><strong>Kawhi Leonard<\/strong><\/a>, the star player at the center of the controversy.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-00474a4e4c5a381367f0c841de538b53\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-image-block canvas-image-block-permalink canvas-image-block--default  \">\n<div class=\"image-block\"><a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_jpg_20250903_b2be1dadacc44d148e76e2eccb1feef5\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:25a95fe2-28b7-4573-9825-bc3e8e2bd1ef\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"img-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/imagez.tmz.com\/image\/b2\/4by3\/2025\/09\/03\/b2be1dadacc44d148e76e2eccb1feef5_md.jpg\" alt=\"Kawhi Leonard Playing On The Clippers 2\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"image-block__card-footer\"><span class=\"media-credit image-block__media-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-a506f3610c26bb39391b098d6a150433\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p>The future Hall of Famer will have to pay a $700K fine &#8230; which is an insane amount of money until you realize KL makes that in just over one game.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-024f0dec8e0134460f8b056bc4888087\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p>Leonard won&#8217;t be suspended.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-cc55628c492725ff51f69000da20089f\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p>Kenny has a theory as to why the NBA took a pass on hitting Kawhi hard.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"cb-0618e7afb0d0de1b30d69617028835cf\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default  canvas-block-is-last \" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;text_block&quot;}\">\n<p>Check out the clip!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<ul class=\"social social--permalink\">\n<li class=\"social__item social__item--3items\"><a class=\"btn social__btn social__btn--facebook js-track-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2026\/09\/05\/kenny-smith-agrees-with-clippers-kawhi-nba-punishment\/\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:article:25a95fe2-28b7-4573-9825-bc3e8e2bd1ef\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;main&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;facebook-footer&quot;,&quot;pos&quot;:1}\"><br \/>\n                Share<span class=\"social__hide-sm\"> on Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"social__item social__item--3items\"><a class=\"btn social__btn social__btn--x js-track-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2026\/09\/05\/kenny-smith-agrees-with-clippers-kawhi-nba-punishment\/\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:article:25a95fe2-28b7-4573-9825-bc3e8e2bd1ef\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;main&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;twitter-footer&quot;,&quot;pos&quot;:2}\"><br \/>\n                Share<span class=\"social__hide-sm\"> on X<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"social__item social__item--3items\"><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"related-articles\">\n<header class=\"card-section-header related-articles__card-section-header\">\n<h3 class=\"card-section-title related-articles__card-section-title\">\n              Related articles<br \/>\n            <\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"row related-articles__row\">\n<div class=\"col related-articles__col\">\n<article class=\"related-articles__card\"><a class=\"related-articles__card-link js-track-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2026\/07\/09\/kenny-smith-weighs-in-on-lakers\/\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:article:25a95fe2-28b7-4573-9825-bc3e8e2bd1ef\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;main&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;related-article&quot;,&quot;pos&quot;:1}\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-articles__card-img ratio\">\n<div class=\"ratio-item\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/imagez.tmz.com\/image\/b0\/16by9\/2026\/07\/07\/b05b4c711dc84e54a563d6907a013ea9_xs.png\" alt=\"smith lakers prim\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"img-fluid\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"related-articles__card-body\">\n<h4 class=\"related-articles__card-title\">\n                        Lakers No Longer Title Contenders Without LeBron James, Kenny &#8216;The Jet&#8217; 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Video: Kenny Smith Says NBA&#8217;s Clippers&#8217; Punishment Is Appropriate, They Cheated TMZSports.com Kenny Smith admits the NBA [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,77],"class_list":["post-2129400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tmz-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2129400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2129400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2129400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2129400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}