The Clippers will not control a first-round pick until 2034. That is the headline cost of the NBA’s ruling on Kawhi Leonard’s side deals, and it is only part of the bill. ESPN reported that the league is taking five first-round picks from the club, fining owner Steve Ballmer $30 million and suspending him for a year.
Leonard got off lightest. He was still ordered to pay $700,000 in restitution over improper benefits his uncle, Dennis Robertson, received. The league also barred Robertson from conducting any future business in the NBA.
Fox Sports called it one of the steepest penalties ever handed down in professional sports. For a young Clippers team on the edge of a rebuild, losing half a decade of first-round draft capital hurts badly. Strategically, the picks were their main currency.
How the past compares
The closest precedent is the Minnesota Timberwolves. From 1999, Joe Smith signed three consecutive low-salary, one-year contracts, which led to the discovery of an under-the-table deal to get around the cap. The team was fined $3.5 million, owner Glen Taylor and general manager Kevin McHale were suspended, and Minnesota lost five first-round picks, the same number as the Clippers.
The NFL’s 2012 bounty case hit the New Orleans Saints hard. Head coach Sean Payton drew a $500,000 fine, a full unpaid year out and the loss of two second-round picks. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely and general manager Mickey Loomis for eight games.
Baseball has its own list. Houston, after the 2017 World Series, was fined the $5 million maximum and lost first- and second-round picks in 2020 and 2021 for stealing signs, and general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were suspended for a year before being fired. Boston lost a 2020 second-round pick over sign stealing in 2018, and replay operator J.T. Watkins was suspended for a year. Atlanta was caught breaking international signing rules from 2015 to 2017, lost 13 prospects including shortstop Kevin Maitan, and saw general manager John Coppolella banned for life.
In football, Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 over Spygate, the Patriots $250,000 and a 2008 first-round pick, after a video assistant filmed the Jets’ signals. Miami’s Stephen Ross was fined $1.5 million and suspended, and the Dolphins lost a 2023 first-round pick and a 2024 third, after a tampering investigation sparked by a lawsuit from former coach Brian Flores.
The college game has harsher examples. SMU’s 1987 season was cancelled for paying players while on probation, and its 1988 season followed, with 55 scholarships stripped over four years. USC lost 30 scholarships and had to vacate 14 wins, including a national title, while Reggie Bush forfeited his Heisman Trophy. Penn State paid a $60 million fine, lost 40 scholarships and had 112 wins vacated for its handling of the Jerry Sandusky case.
