The NBA stripped the Clippers of five first-round picks, fined the club $30 million, suspended owner Steve Ballmer for a year, while executive Gillian Zucker and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank also received suspensions.
As for Leonard, whose trade to the Raptors could be official within days, he received just a $700,000 fine, and his infamous “Uncle” Dennis Robertson was banned from any dealings with NBA teams for five years. Robertson served as the intermediary for Leonard’s business dealings, and the investigation showed that Leonard knew nothing about the cap circumvention.
It was a disastrous ending to what was a disastrous seven-year tenure for Leonard in Los Angeles. Leonard had just won a championship with the Raptors in 2019 and was an unrestricted free agent when his nefarious business dealings led by Robertson began. He agreed to sign with the Clippers only if the club traded for Thunder forward Paul George, who is now with the Celtics.
The Clippers sent five first-round picks (and!) a prospect named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the Thunder to get George. Well, Gilgeous-Alexander has won the past two MVP awards and an NBA championship.
Meanwhile, the Clippers never reached the Western Conference finals with George and Leonard (Leonard was injured during their conference finals run in 2021).
This is essentially the NBA’s version of the death penalty. The Clippers have few future assets to trade, considering they have lost five first-round picks, beginning in 2029. What holds the interest of Celtics fans is the 2028 pick, which remains unaffected by the NBA’s ruling. If the Clippers finish with a pick in the 17-30 range, it would go to the Celtics outright by virtue of the Jaylen Brown trade.
If the pick is in the 1-16 range, the Celtics would have the right to swap with the Clippers and have a good chance to draft in the lottery. Before then, however, the Spurs have the right to swap picks in 2028 with the Celtics because of the Derrick White deal, but that would not impact the Celtics’ access to the Clippers’ pick.
First-round picks are valuable in the NBA not just because of the potential player drafted, but they can also serve as trade sweeteners, especially for teams looking to gather assets for rebuilds. That 2028 first-round pick may never play a game in Boston but could be used in another deal to acquire, let’s say, a No. 2 option to join Jayson Tatum.
There was fear that Leonard would receive a hefty suspension and the Raptors would essentially be penalized because of his absence, but he’ll begin his second Toronto tenure with no restrictions, boosting the Raptors’ chances of competing in the Eastern Conference.
The Clippers are livid about the ruling, and they released a letter to Silver on Wednesday night, claiming Ballmer spent $50 million of his own money on the investigation and accusing the NBA of having a “predetermined decision to reach an adverse finding.”
The letter continued: “We are confident that if the league spent $50 million investigating any team, it would find plenty of instances of team personnel making introductions to both sponsors and vendors in response to player requests. That is unsurprising because no league rule prohibits teams from making such introductions.”
The letter went on to call the investigation a “witch hunt” and “flawed from the outset.” There is no appeal process for Ballmer, meaning he would have to take the NBA to court to potentially recoup draft picks, the $30 million fine, or rescind the suspensions. But that could become a tedious process, and Ballmer would have to determine if such as effort was worth the continued negative publicity.
It’s another embarrassing moment for a franchise that has historically been one of the league’s laughingstocks. Even before the ruling, the Clippers decided to get out of the Leonard business by dealing him to Toronto, a sign they plan on a rebuild. But with a sparkling new arena and being forced into a franchise reboot without first-round picks for five years, this could be the beginning of another malaise for the Clippers.
Ballmer was considered a savior when he purchased the team from the bumbling and incompetent Donald Sterling 12 years ago, and he worked feverishly to create an identity for the franchise in Los Angeles, and acquiring Leonard and George in 2019 was supposed to be a sign they were serious about winning a championship.
Instead, they have become two of the worst transactions in league history, and the Clippers are now paying a crippling price.
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at [gary.washburn@globe.com](mailto:gary.washburn@globe.com). Follow him [@GwashburnGlobe](https://www.twitter.com/GwashburnGlobe).