The Los Angeles Clippers were hit with big punishments in the league’s investigation into allegations of salary cap circumvention pertaining to Kawhi Leonard.

Leonard was accused of accepting a $28 million no-show contract with Aspiration that was arranged by the Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer.

The investigation lasted nearly a year, with the league ruling on Wednesday that the Clippers would have to forfeit five future first-round picks while Ballmer and executives Lawrence Frank and Gillian Zucker would be suspended.

Ballmer was also fined $30 million.

Leonard has to pay $700,000 in restitution, but is not facing any contract punishment as far as his deal being voided or suspension.

After the ruling was made, the Clippers issued the following statement:

“We vehemently reject the NBA's findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence. What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure it’s fairness and accuracy.

“For the past year, we cooperated fully and in good faith and we will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence.

“We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process.”

The investigation began in September 2025 after a report was published by Pablo Torre on the Aspiration allegations. Kawhi played the entire 2025-26 season without punishment.

ESPN published a report on August 17 saying, “The NBA has found no evidence that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard and circumvent the salary cap.”

The league denied the report, saying the investigation was still ongoing.

For now, the dust has settled, but based on the Clippers’ statement, there will be another kick-up.

The investigation took a year, and the arbitration process could take just as long.

The five first-round picks are going to severely hamper the franchise moving forward, especially as they don’t appear to be the most competitive team on paper in the coming seasons. If the Clippers can end up retaining a couple of those picks after the arbitration process is over.

Based on the wording from the Clippers, they felt there was going to be no punishment, or at least a less severe punishment, than the one they ended up with.