The Los Angeles Clippers paid a hefty price for illegally manipulating the salary cap and pulling a controversial circumvention no other team has ever done in NBA history.
While the Clippers will surrender all of their first-round picks from 2029 to 2033, a particular 2029 pick swap asset they sent to the Philadelphia 76ers as part of the 2023 James Harden trade will not be affected, per Chris Hine of The Philadelphia Tribune.
"The league is also taking away five first-round draft picks from the Clippers in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033. The 76ers still have some Clippers draft capital from the trade that sent James Harden to Los Angeles in 2023, but that will be unaffected by the league’s punishments," the report indicated.
76ers to still benefit from LA Clippers' downfall
At the start of the 2023-24 NBA season, the Philadelphia 76ers traded James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for a package centered around Marcus Morris, Nicolas Batum, Robert Covington, KJ Martin, a 2028 unprotected first-round pick, and a 2029 first-round pick swap.
During that time, the Clippers went all-in on Harden, who was fully upset in Philadelphia amid failure to obtain the reported max contract extension he and team president Daryl Morey had discussed.
Since the 76ers kept their top-three protected 2029 pick swap right, they get to reap the rewards of LA’s downfall rooted in the league's punishment. If the Clippers finish near the bottom of the league in the 2028-29 season, Philly can take over, secure their incredibly high lottery pick, and hand them their own much worse pick.
With Harden no longer in LA and the Clippers lacking control of their own first-round picks until 2034, the franchise faces a bleak future.
Meanwhile, the 76ers are even more intriguing in the next few years, ahead of an already highly anticipated 2026-27 NBA season with Jaylen Brown and LeBron James as the newest members of the franchise.