The Abysmal Future of The Los Angeles Clippers

For years, the Los Angeles Clippers traded away their future in pursuit of a championship they never reached. Despite giving up over 10 first-round picks to acquire and keep forward Kawhi Leonard, as well as pairing him with superstar talent, the Clippers were unable to make use of their championship window and failed again and again to reach the NBA Finals. 

On June 30, the Los Angeles Clippers agreed to send Leonard back to the Raptors, where he had previously won the 2019 NBA Finals and Finals MVP. In return, the Clippers would receive forward Brandon Ingram, guard Gradey Dick, two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and one first-round pick swap.  

However, just over a week later, the deal froze. The trade was expected to become official on July 6, when the NBA’s offseason moratorium on transactions ended. However, with the league still investigating whether the Clippers potentially circumvented their salary cap in dealings with Leonard, both teams agreed to wait for a ruling before finalizing the trade. On September 2, the NBA handed down penalties characterized by ESPN as being among the harshest in league history.

What the NBA Found

Ultimately, the league found that the Clippers circumvented the salary cap by paying Kawhi Leonard money outside of his NBA contract. This was achieved by approving improper expenses for Leonard and his family, as well as using endorsement agreements and unreported bribery to generate other opportunities for income. The off-court income Leonard received never counted against the salary cap, allowing the Clippers to pay Leonard more rules allowed. Leonard’s four endorsement deals were reportedly worth as much as $66 million. 

This resulted in the NBA penalizing the Clippers at nearly every level of the organization. 

• Kawhi Leonard’s business manager is banned from being in business with any NBA teams or their players for five years. 
• The Clippers President of Basketball Operations is suspended for six months without pay for allowing the arrangements made for Leonard’s off-court income. 
• The Clippers President of Business Operations is suspended for a year without pay for assisting endorsement agreements and lying to investigators.
• The Clippers will be fined $30 million, which falls on the owner, who is also suspended for a year for assisting Leonard’s off-court income opportunities, and therefore failing to have his organization follow the NBA’s salary cap rules. 
• Lastly, the Clippers’ compliance will be monitored by the NBA for the next five years. 

The Clippers initially rejected the findings and called the investigation biased. On September 13, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer rescinded this statement and announced that the team had paid the fine and would not take any legal action. The Clippers were limited in their options anyway, as only the players’ union can trigger arbitration, and it agreed with the league on the penalties. The trade to send Leonard to the Toronto Raptors was completed on September 14 on its original terms, and Leonard later agreed to a two-year $115 million extension with Toronto. 

Though these punishments are severe, the suspensions and fines aren’t the worst part of the punishment; it is the destruction of their future. The Clippers were forced to forfeit five first-round picks, a 2029 pick acquired from the Indiana Pacers and their own picks from 2030 to 2033. 

A Bleak Future

Losing five first-round picks would carry significant ramifications for any franchise. For the Clippers, it’s even worse; it comes at a moment when they have already sold off most of their draft capital in a pursuit to win a title with three players older than 30. It started in the 2019 offseason when the Clippers traded for forward Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder so that Leonard, a free agent at the time, would be willing to sign with them. To do so, they sent Oklahoma City three unprotected first-round picks in 2022, 2024, and 2026, along with first-round picks in 2021 and 2023 that they had previously obtained from the Miami Heat. Even worse, the Clippers sent the Thunder young guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who won back-to-back MVP awards in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons. He also won finals MVP with the Thunder when they won the finals in 2025. 

In 2023, continuing their push for a championship, the Clippers traded for guard James Harden from the Philadelphia 76ers, which also included the Thunder in a three-team deal. That  cost them an unprotected 2028 first-round pick to the 76ers and an unprotected 2027 first-round pick swap with the Thunder. 

The Clippers drafted Illinois guard Keaton Wagler fifth overall this year with a pick acquired from the Pacers in a February trade for center Ivica Zubac. Their own 2026 pick went to Oklahoma City at No. 12 with it being the final payment on the George trade. After the penalties, the Clippers hold four first-round picks through 2033, including Toronto’s 2031 and 2033 picks from the Leonard trade, but they fully control none of them. 2034 would be the first year they would be guaranteed their own first-round pick.

The Clippers expended most of their draft picks in the hopes of winning a championship with Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and James Harden, who were all in their thirties and in the twilight of their careers. After failing to win the finals, the Clippers were geared to start  rebuilding. Now, however, their attempt to rebuild has been severely compromised by the NBA’s penalties.

What The Penalties Mean to a Billionaire  

Two of the penalties the Clippers had were monetary: the Clippers were fined $30 million while Leonard had to pay a $700,000 fine. Yet, both fines mean virtually nothing to Leonard and Ballmer.

Ballmer’s net worth comes mostly from a four percent stake in Microsoft, and is estimated to be between $125 billion and $155 billion, making the $30 million fine nearly inconsequential.  Leonard’s $700,000 fine is similarly meaningless; Leonard makes $50 million a year just from his NBA contract, so $700,000 is only a fraction of his earnings. Furthermore, Leonard has made millions of dollars off of the very scandal he was fined for. As a result, the league has effectively only given Leonard a small fine instead of addressing the millions of dollars he made from illegal sponsorship deals. 

Leonard has historically taken endorsement deals from a number of sponsors of the Clippers, including companies such as Aspiration, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics, and Lockton Insurance. By the time the NBA imposed penalties, Leonard had already been paid tens of millions, which they were unable to rescind. The league was left only able to fine Leonard and punish the Clippers.

In Conclusion…

The Clippers’ punishment is not devastating because it has cost the franchise $30 million or suspended several of its executives. It is devastating because it comes after the Clippers had already sacrificed much of its future for a chance to win immediately. In the end, all the trades strategized by the Clippers ultimately failed to produce an NBA Finals appearance. Now, the organization faces the task of rebuilding an entire roster with four first-round picks through 2033, none of which are fully in its control.

While guard Darius Garland, Ingram, Dick, and Wagler give the Clippers a solid starting point for their rebuild, they cannot replace the five first-round selections the NBA revoked, nor undo the picks and young players the Clippers wasted on its failed championship hopes. Forced to spend years rebuilding while stuck with aged players, for the Clippers, the true cost is time.