Golden State Warriors v Los Angeles Clippers
Kawhi Leonard #2 of the LA Clippers dribbles up court during a game against the Golden State Warriors at Intuit Dome on January 05, 2026 in Inglewood, California.
The Los Angeles Clippers have finally done the right thing. Better late than never, but moving on was always the only real option Steve Ballmer and his franchise had after mountains of evidence came out pointing to their consistent wrongdoing in the Kawhi Leonard salary cap circumvention scandal.
The Clippers had aggressively fought any charges of wrongdoing for a full year since Pablo Torre’s investigative work prompted an NBA investigation through a law firm, which was finally completed earlier this month. They’d long insisted they did nothing wrong and merely introduced Leonard’s camp to team sponsors. Ballmer, one of the richest humans on the planet, had vowed to fight the penalties doled out by the league, including a $30 million fine and a year-long ban for Ballmer and other Clippers executives, with one getting six months.
Leonard was only fined $700,000, which multiple reports said over the last two weeks significantly irked Ballmer and the Clippers who had hoped to build a dynasty when he and Paul George were brought in in tandem in 2019 just after Leonard led the Raptors to the NBA championship.
Of course, that all went spectacularly wrong on the court, and was even more disastrous off it in the end, considering the many first-round draft picks taken away from the Clippers in the fallout.
So here we are. Finally.
Ballmer released a statement late Sunday night saying: “This has been a very difficult time for everybody associated with the Clippers, and for that, I have sincere regrets.
“I want to apologize to our fans, employees, and my fellow NBA team owners for the distraction and distress this matter has caused, for which I accept responsibility as principal owner.
“We are committing to put this chapter behind us. We have communicated to the NBA that we are complying with the penalties assessed by the league, have paid the fine, and are moving forward.”
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A statement from Steve Ballmer. pic.twitter.com/YvhdXA8dQf
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) September 14, 2026
“We are committing to put this chapter behind us. We have communicated to the NBA that we are complying with the penalties assessed by the league, have paid the fine, and are moving forward,” he said in a statement.
“While there are still disagreements concerning the findings in the report, this is not where I want to focus. Team owners should support, not distract.”
With that done, the obvious next question is when does the Leonard trade back to Toronto, first agreed to at the end of June, get completed? The Clippers are still putting together a temporary front office not currently banished by the league, but this removes a significant distraction heading into the NBA’s board of governors meetings in New York which begin Monday.
Now everyone can move on, with the Clippers recouping some desperately needed draft capital from the Raptors (Toronto will send two future firsts, along with the option to swap picks in the 2027 draft, though Oklahoma City will receive the Clippers’ pick via that awful George trade from years ago which also landed them Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams).
If history repeats itself, the Clippers will also benefit from accepting their fate. Commissioner Adam Silver long apprenticed at the feet of David Stern and in the only other similar case, the Minnesota Timberwolves had been fined $3.5 million and had five first-round picks taken for circumventing the cap to retain Joe Smith on the cheap before later planning to give him a much bigger deal. By agreeing to the punishment and cooperating, Minnesota was later awarded two of the five picks back (about three years later). There was no upside to Ballmer and the Clippers trying to take the NBA to court, despite their hurt feelings and even if they somehow truly do believe the opposite of what the evidence in this case indicates.
They’ll have to settle for Ballmer making it clear he thinks they got a raw deal in return for normalcy returning sooner than about a half decade from now.
“The challenges ahead of us are significant, but so is our resolve. We will continue to build our team and invest in our community,” Ballmer said in the statement,
“The confidence of our fans is our priority. With our talented roster, outstanding staff and clear vision, I am certain that we will compete at the highest level and be an organization our fans can be proud of.”
That should be the case for the Raptors far sooner, though some fans will likely hold their nose when it comes to Leonard, given all that transpired in Los Angeles.
One of a kind
In professional sports though, teams often ignore red or yellow flags aplenty in order to benefit from all a one-of-a-kind athlete like Leonard can deliver for them. He didn’t particularly want to come to Toronto in 2018, but left a conquering hero. He’ll return with the franchise finally back on the upswing and is coming off perhaps his finest overall offensive season, one which saw him average 27.9 points per game. Leonard is still one of the 10 best players in the world and will be a massive upgrade over Brandon Ingram, who had a strong season, earning an all-star appearance, but is not close to the same level of player as Leonard.
Even in a deep, stacked Eastern Conference, the Raptors should be a factor, similar to how things were when Leonard first joined the franchise.
The Clippers, well, at least they’re now past rock bottom.