Kawhi Leonard, an NBA player who has been part of a recent NBA investigation. Photo Courtesy of Chensiyuan (Wikimedia Commons).
The NBA has concluded its investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers.
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By Obadiah Golden
TAMPA, Fla. — On Wednesday, Sept. 2, after a year of investigation, the National Basketball Association (NBA) punished the Clippers, resulting in them losing five first-round picks and multiple front office staff members being suspended for a year.
In 2019, Dennis Robertson, “Uncle Dennis,” oversaw Kawhi’s free-agency process and presented an offer to three teams: the Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, and Los Angeles Clippers.
In this offer, he wanted “a private plane that would be available at all times, a house and — last but certainly not least — a guaranteed amount of off-court endorsement money that they could expect if Leonard played for their team.”
All of these teams knew that this would directly violate the league’s rules concerning the salary cap, but the Clippers decided to buy into this. The Clippers then traded for Paul George, as Leonard also requested this, and were in the hunt for an NBA championship.
In 2025, journalist Pablo Torre called out the Clippers, claiming that they were using a company to pay Leonard more money than they were allowed. This company was named Aspiration, and it was paying Leonard $28 million to “endorse” this company.
This violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), as the Clippers were going over the allotted salary cap to pay for a contract for a player that the NBA knew nothing about. Aspiration has since gone bankrupt. In their bankruptcy case, one former employee supported this claim. Ballmer denied these allegations, and after its first investigation, NBA commissioner Adam Silver did not find any evidence.
As time went on, Torre kept posting content on the matter, and the story began to gain traction. Torre eventually won awards for these broadcasts, but even with all of these allegations, Ballmer still denied these wrongdoings and was confident he would get cleared.
The Clippers did not win an NBA championship with the duo of George and Leonard, and after George left in free agency, the Clippers decided to part ways with Leonard. Leonard was traded to the Toronto Raptors, but before a trade is finalized, the NBA has to approve it, and Silver put this trade on hold. The NBA was still investigating, and no one could be traded until it was done.
Torre also claimed the company Daktronics was giving Leonard money. So on Sept. 2, the NBA added them to the investigation. After a year, the NBA finally got all the evidence needed to reach a decision.
The NBA found patterns of misconduct by the Clippers, including actions that circumvented the salary cap and violated league rules.
The NBA’s investigation concluded that the Clippers were involved in creating off-court opportunities between Leonard and four companies. This investigation also found that the Clippers provided expenses to these four companies in connection with these deals and paid certain personal expenses on Leonard’s behalf.
The Clippers failed to report off-court income opportunities made by Leonard’s former business manager, Dennis Robertson.
The NBA decided to hand out certain penalties to the Clippers. The Clippers were fined $30 million and have to forfeit five first-round picks. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is suspended from all basketball activities for one year.
The NBA also suspended Gillian Zucker, the Clippers’ president of business operations, for one year without pay. Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, was suspended for six months without pay.
The NBA will also monitor the Clippers’ actions for the next five years and has banned Robertson from conducting any form of business with any NBA team.