The all-time punishment against Steve Ballmer and the LA Clippers is final and will not be lessened in the near future.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver set the record straight in his Tuesday press conference, dismissing the idea that the Clippers' sanctions might ultimately end up like the Joe Smith situation for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
"The discipline is final," Silver simply told reporters. "That's your direct question."
LA Clippers punishments are final, per Adam Silver
Back in 2000, the Minnesota Timberwolves had a pre-agreed contract with Joe Smith. Late Commissioner David Stern and the NBA initially stripped the franchise of five first-round draft picks, but later reduced the punishment by restoring two of those selections (2003 and 2005) because the franchise cooperated with the league and refrained from going to arbitration
As such, the NBA hit the LA Clippers with the largest penalty in league history this offseason after a year-long investigation by Wachtell Lipton revealed they broke salary cap circumvention rules to secure under-the-table endorsement deals for Kawhi Leonard.
The NBA stripped the Clippers of five consecutive first-round draft picks (2029-2033), fined the franchise $30 million, issued a one-year suspension to owner Steve Ballmer and Business President Gillian Zucker, and sidelined Basketball President Lawrence Frank for six months.
Considering that the franchise initially rejected the punishment and even announced its intention to pursue legal action against the NBA, any reconsideration of the sanctions seems truly no longer possible, as it left a bad taste for Silver and the league's image.
Less than two weeks after the punishment announcement, Ballmer formally accepted his team's fate and will cooperate with the league