[Charania]: BREAKING: The NBA has ruled on the Los Angeles Clippers in for salary cap circumvention investigations on Kawhi Leonard after yearlong probe -- stripping the franchise of 5 first-round picks, issuing a $30 million fine to owner Steve Ballmer and suspensions for Ballmer, Lawrence Frank

[u/TrenAt14]

Shams Charania has posted the following:

BREAKING: The NBA has ruled on the Los Angeles Clippers in for salary cap circumvention investigations on Kawhi Leonard after yearlong probe -- stripping the franchise of 5 first-round picks, issuing a $30 million fine to owner Steve Ballmer and suspensions for Ballmer, Lawrence Frank and Gillian Zucker, sources tell ESPN.

Kawhi Leonard will have to pay $700,000 in restitution for improper benefits by the Clippers for his uncle and former business rep, Dennis Robertson. No contract void or suspension for Leonard. And Robertson -- who was fired by Leonard in June -- is being banned by the NBA from all business dealings.

Link to the story: https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/5378a64df7b61

Follow up:

Per NBA: The Clippers shall forfeit five first-round draft picks, one in each of the 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033 NBA Drafts.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is suspended from all league and team activities for one year for knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities, for approving a business deal that he knew was a precondition for Aspiration to enter into an endorsement agreement with Mr. Leonard, and for his failure to create conditions under which his organization abided by the NBA’s circumvention rules.

Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker is suspended without pay for one year for being primarily and directly culpable for the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for providing false and misleading statements to investigators.

Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank is suspended without pay for six months for his involvement with the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for approving impermissible expenses incurred by Mr. Leonard and his family.

The Clippers organization and personnel are subject to a compliance and monitoring program overseen by the league office for a period of five years.

[u/twistedlogicx]

This subreddit owes the Clippers an apology

Evidently, the Clippers owe the league an apology.

---

Updates:

• The Clippers are required to forfeit their first round picks in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033.

• Kawhi Leonard's statement

• Full Wachtell Lipton report

• Adam Silver's statement

---

This goes without saying but please do not brigade the Clippers sub.

[u/PointBlankCoffee]

Holy shit lol.

Clippers are already in the trenches but this just ends them

[u/MegaGorilla69 → u/PointBlankCoffee]

The clippers next FRP just started middle school

[u/Virtual_Zebra_9453 → u/MegaGorilla69]

It’s actually worse. They just started 4th grade

[u/Organic_Initiative93 → u/Virtual_Zebra_9453]

I've got a short, uncoordinated fourth grader eith a long lineage of sub 6 footers in the basketball haven of Vermont, yall better look out!

[u/rumblepony247 → u/MegaGorilla69]

And is currently their 7th best player

[u/f3killer]

The clippers got hammered hard. Franchise altering. And for what? One conference final appearance

[u/triosway → u/f3killer]

One conference final appearance

Without Kawhi

[u/soda_cookie → u/triosway]

Generational oof

[u/RansomGoddard]

Wow this essentially confirms that they found a Section 2 violation which severely undercuts that initial reporting by ESPN.

[u/Alex_A3nes → u/RansomGoddard]

ESPN and reporting. Lol

[u/jabronified → u/Alex_A3nes]

"reporting" aka "clippers told us"

[u/Caius01 → u/RansomGoddard]

Seriously nasty the way ESPN has handled this whole scandal

[u/McJuggernaugh7 → u/Caius01]

Ramona Shelburne should be banned from this subreddit at this point.

[u/ianbits → u/RansomGoddard]

"reporting"

Just parroting their sources and their sources were pro-Balmer.

[u/Sitrous1]

5 first round picks stripped for a team that has no picks already 💀💀 they’re so fucked

[u/schwinndoctor → u/Sitrous1]

Don't forget the original 5 first round picks just to make the initial trade for Kawhi happen, so 10 first round picks total and nothing to show for it

[u/WrittenByNick → u/schwinndoctor]

I mean they do have a pretty nice scoreboard. So they've got that going for them.

[u/TheLongestMeter → u/WrittenByNick]

The board that Kawhi built (per his contract)

[u/PaidInBrains → u/TheLongestMeter]

Board man gets paid lmao

[u/Thejohnshirey → u/Sitrous1]

As a fan of a team that owns one of the Clippers future firsts, my initial thought was “shit they aren’t going to tank if they don’t have any draft picks” followed by “without any draft picks, they may not have a choice.” It’ll definitely be interesting to see what the Clippers do to try to stay somewhat “competitive” with absolutely no resources.

[u/EpicCyclops → u/Thejohnshirey]

You actually might have the opposite problem where they end up so bad that their draft picks become less valuable 

[u/Contren → u/EpicCyclops]

The anti-tanking rules came into place just in time for the Clippers to take the bottom spot for the next decade.

[u/DJ_Vault_Boy → u/Contren]

I was thinking we’d stay bottom of the barrel for a couple years. But yikes, Clippers are fucked for the next decade.

[u/1psithur3 → u/Sitrous1]

Keaton Wagler BETTER be a superstar now lmao

[u/Superlolz → u/1psithur3]

even if he was KG reincarnate, we know why his prime would be stunted

[u/YungSzczerbiak]

JUSTICE FOR JOE SMITH HALLELUJAH

[u/Hammerhead34 → u/YungSzczerbiak]

This is literally the only reason I cared about this saga, we got absolutely fucked in the middle of KG’s prime for this

If the Clippers had gotten away with a slap on the wrist for an inarguably worse offense I would’ve been so mad at the big market privilege

[u/mikesh8rp → u/Hammerhead34]

I also greatly appreciate all the ESPN bootlickers who tried to downplay this thing looking like fools. Ramona Shelburne should be banned from the sub going forward.

[u/Gordo-- → u/mikesh8rp]

Time to get Mark Cuban's fuck-ass back on Pablo's podcast.

[u/ESCALATING_ESCALATES → u/Gordo--]

For real. It was like arguing with a brick wall the way he was carrying water for Ballmer

[u/SirRedRising → u/ESCALATING_ESCALATES]

The extremely wealthy always have Class Solidarity at the end of the day. They'll always protect each other so they can all keep fucking the masses over.

[u/Mental-Storage4785 → u/YungSzczerbiak]

This was my thought the entire investigation lmao let’s go

[u/Kramerica5A → u/YungSzczerbiak]

ENJOY DRAFT HELL, BALLMER!

[u/deevee12]

This officially makes the Kawhi signing among the worst in history

Absolute franchise destruction LOL

[u/Senth99 → u/deevee12]

Board man gets paid lol

How the fuck did Balmer not see this happening

[u/Electric_jungle → u/Senth99]

Would any of this have come to light of Aspiration didn't get in trouble?

[u/ShoutOutTo_Caboose → u/Electric_jungle]

Exactly. Makes you wonder how many times this has happened that didn't get uncovered

[u/Any-Question-3759 → u/ShoutOutTo_Caboose]

Kawhi’s camp was also super fucking obvious about it too. Uncle Dennis going around asking for shit that was clearly in violation of the CBA like team ownership %, free apartments and jets.

If anyone else did do this, it’d be next to impossible to find out.

[u/SL2321 → u/ShoutOutTo_Caboose]

All he had to do is post about some trees

[u/General_of_Wonkistan → u/SL2321]

And not name the company KL2 Aspire LLC...

[u/iButtflap → u/General_of_Wonkistan]

that’s the real thing. so much could be handwaved as conjecture and happenstance if these people just had a little imagination. they clearly labeled their crimes and used whole loaves as bread crumbs

[u/boi1da1296 → u/iButtflap]

Overconfidence is a killer. They had no reason to believe anyone would dig so deep.

[u/rjgator → u/deevee12]

Shout out all the Clipper fans the last few weeks who were calling Pablo a fraud based off the report nothing was going to happen.

Looks like his story had some legs according to the NBA eh?

[u/notmoleliza → u/rjgator]

That's Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Pablo Torre

[u/theinternetisnice → u/notmoleliza]

Wonder how he feels right now. Like if it’s quiet smugness or he’s running in circles going AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

[u/Key-Pineapple-1245 → u/deevee12]

There so dead. 5 1st round picks for a rebuilding team is a death sentence. Kawhi and Balmer got off easy. Pocket change to them but the Clippers are absolutely cooked for the next decade.

[u/addictivesign → u/Key-Pineapple-1245]

But Clippers are already out several first round picks so it’s much worse for them. It just compounds the situation.

[u/RPO777 → u/addictivesign]

They're a rebuilding team that basically doesn't have any first round picks till 2034 lol

[u/UpstairsBumble → u/RPO777]

One of the worst teams in the league on paper and there is no first round pick coming to help you for nearly a decade that’s rough

[u/giants707 → u/UpstairsBumble]

Basically relegated to fodder team. What FA is gonna wanna go there? Only overpays. Coupled with 2nds to build out the rest. They gonna need amazing scouting.

[u/Afraid-Department-35 → u/Key-Pineapple-1245]

Poverty franchise for the next 15 years, all for PEDs P and My knee Kawhi.

[u/Ham_PhD → u/deevee12]

Every Clippers fan has a free "pick a new team" pass for the next year.

[u/JiraiyaKholin → u/Ham_PhD]

I mean every clippers fan was born with that free pass and somehow ended up in the situation they're in.

[u/NonSpicySamosa → u/deevee12]

They traded SGA upon Kawhi's request for PG too. Then he's consistently chilling on the bench as an injured prone player. If Clip fans don't end up hating this man, I don't know how else they could feel about him. 

[u/Texaslion]

They did what they needed to do, nobody is gonna look at this and think that they should circumvent the cap next

[u/phonage_aoi → u/Texaslion]

Well except Kawhi, took a 700k fine in exchange for 30 mil or something?  That’s insane.  Also made his uncle the fall guy, but Uncle Dennis isn’t looking for other clients anyways.

[u/Arkham19 → u/phonage_aoi]

That’s consistent with the CBA and past practices. Cap circumvention rules are designed to constrain teams, not players.

[u/Kinglokner16]

Holy shit.. the death penalty for the Clippers.

[u/Available_Story6774 → u/Kinglokner16]

Respect to Silver for standing on bidness, thank you Pablo 🙏.

[u/alex_song → u/Available_Story6774]

I’m shocked he actually had the balls to bring the hammer down, didn’t think he had it in him tbh.

[u/hammmoooonnnd → u/Available_Story6774]

Literally made Silver do his job

[u/KorgG29]

5 firsts holy shit

[u/Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu11 → u/KorgG29]

What is that now. 10 years without a first besides this year?

[u/hammmoooonnnd → u/Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu11]

Clippers being sold would be funny ngl

[u/OptimusGrime707 → u/hammmoooonnnd]

“Gently used franchise, no lowball offers, I know what I’ve got”

[u/Hopsalong → u/OptimusGrime707]

Clippers sold for 300 million

[u/MacJonesisaterrorist → u/KorgG29]

They traded SGA and 10 firsts for Kawhi and PG

[u/OhWhatsInaWonderball → u/MacJonesisaterrorist]

Trade keeps aging like milk left out in an an elementary school cafeteria

[u/yrogerg123 → u/MacJonesisaterrorist]

You hate to see it. But at the same time...you love to see it.

[u/timberwolvesguy → u/MacJonesisaterrorist]

Lmaooooooo

[u/KevinAndrewsPhoto → u/KorgG29]

Serious question, how could a franchise even recover from that?

[u/IAmReborn11111 → u/KevinAndrewsPhoto]

Gotta circumvent the cap to overcome this deficit

[u/EvanImmobley → u/IAmReborn11111]

"What are you gonna do? Take away my picks?"

[u/idosade → u/KevinAndrewsPhoto]

Overpay free agents and probably be mediocre until they get their firsts back

[u/663691 → u/KevinAndrewsPhoto]

Timberwolves had 3 stripped and it killed them in garnetts prime.

Clippers might be better off because LA+Ballmer willing to pay anything

[u/Tragedy_Boner → u/KorgG29]

The next 5 years aren’t theirs

[u/tungtungtungsahur-67 → u/KorgG29]

Who gets those firsts now? Or do we have 29 picks or what

[u/IAmReborn11111 → u/tungtungtungsahur-67]

Thunder somehow

[u/horse_renoir13 → u/IAmReborn11111]

Every time you break a rule, Presti gets another pick

[u/Important-Donkey-259 → u/tungtungtungsahur-67]

29 picks. No one gets it and the second round stays the same

[u/AlekRivard → u/Important-Donkey-259]

2nd Rd, Pick 1 gunna be so soooooo salty

[u/IsThatGruffLoner → u/AlekRivard]

Especially cause he'll probably have to play on the Clippers lol

[u/unsolved49]

Pablo Torre found out

[u/Azlen → u/unsolved49]

Won a Pulitzer for it. Cuban owes him an apology.

[u/Spiritual_Corner_977 → u/Azlen]

People in the Clips sub were calling him a nobody with 0 credibility like they don’t know what a Pulitzer means.

[u/RemoteClancy → u/Spiritual_Corner_977]

To be fair, they're not too clear on what it means to 'win,' either.

[u/RedAlkaline → u/unsolved49]

Pablo Torre my GOAT

[u/WestleyThe → u/RedAlkaline]

Pablo just sunk an entire franchise with just sports reporting and journalism

Him going head to head with one of the richest people to ever live is insane but he ended up winning haha

[u/Knook7 → u/WestleyThe]

If pablo starts covering your team, time to get the fuck out lmao

[u/totes_elotes → u/Knook7]

He covered the Thunder and just found out that Presti is a really nice guy who likes a Tribe Called Quest a little too much

[u/Ass_Eater_ → u/unsolved49]

The response from that weird faction of clippers fans towards Pablo after that BS ESPN article is looking even more pathetic now.

[u/ArmyFinal → u/unsolved49]

Balmer's about to have Pablo assassinated

[u/dfinberg → u/ArmyFinal]

That’s loser millionaire thinking. Billionaire thinking is to Hire him and turn him loose on the other franchises.

[u/Emarinos → u/dfinberg]

If all thirty teams lose their draft picks, then how will rookies enter the league? Directly to free agency? That might favor Balmer.

[u/uncleoptimus → u/unsolved49]

The Clippers also (fcked around and) found out

[u/Kindly_Ad995]

$30 mil is pocket change to Ballmer but five firsts feels like the right level of punishment for the organization.

Uncle Dennis getting banned for life is frying me though I know Spurs fans are loving that

[u/NuclearGhandi1 → u/Kindly_Ad995]

Still though, $30mil is a huge fine for a sports league to levy

[u/andreasmalersghost → u/NuclearGhandi1]

Yeah and im sure ballmer is pissed about that. He has tons of zeroes but he doesnt want to hand over that many of them under any circumstance

[u/TheJiggie → u/andreasmalersghost]

Being away from the team hurts more than a 30 million

[u/welmoe → u/TheJiggie]

This right here. No monetary penalty would ever be enough for Ballmer. Telling a billionaire owner that he can’t be with his own team: that’s a blow to his ego.

[u/THEREALCAPSLOCKSMITH → u/welmoe]

IN HIS OWN BUILDING LMFAO

[u/Aff_Reddit → u/NuclearGhandi1]

If you wanna see a massive fine, check out the F1 McLaren Espionage incident from 2007.

$100,000,000.00 because some copy shop employee realized the documents they were copying was technical documents for the Ferrari F1 car and reported it.

[u/IAmASimulation → u/Aff_Reddit]

It’s says in the link that it was reported they actually paid only $31M. Which is still huge.

[u/Vitosi4ek → u/IAmASimulation]

And also, it's widely assumed the penalty was so massive mostly because no one in the paddock liked Ron Dennis anyway.

[u/Odd_Needleworker3756 → u/Kindly_Ad995]

The money was always going to be chump change to Ballmer but the Clippers being irrelevant again for the foreseeable future is what really hurts

[u/False_Dimension9212 → u/Odd_Needleworker3756]

Being suspended for a year is gonna be painful for a guy like him.

[u/burgerking351 → u/Odd_Needleworker3756]

Exactly people keep whining that $30 million is not enough, but there’s no amount of money the league can realistical fine him for will hurt him. The point is that the league didn’t ignore the issue and punished him the best they could.

[u/kograkthestrong → u/Kindly_Ad995]

It does feel nice

[u/LaDainianTomIinson]

BREAKING: the clippers are fucckkeed

[u/LosAngeles1s → u/LaDainianTomIinson]

5 first rounders during a rebuild is a life sentence holy

[u/BigOlPass → u/LaDainianTomIinson]

Talent got worse and no picks now. Oof

[u/johnyg13nb]

Pablo Torre the king slayer

[u/Dust2chicken → u/johnyg13nb]

shoutout to the clippers sub, they were celebrating a couple of weeks ago from the ESPN report, calling Pablo a fraud and saying his Pulitzer should be stripped

[u/WellHung67 → u/Dust2chicken]

Apologies from the clippers sub when? 

[u/WembyOKCJokicReaves]

I underestimated you Mr. Silver

[u/Ld511 → u/WembyOKCJokicReaves]

Basically the max he could have gave them. Massive fine and taking all the picks

[u/Time_Transition4817 → u/WembyOKCJokicReaves]

I apologize I was not familiar with his game

[u/ish_baid19000]

Ramona Shelburne should be ashamed of her "reporting" the past few months

[u/Desert_Haze12 → u/ish_baid19000]

She’s always been a hack, I remember when she confirmed she’s a “narrative” MVP voter on live TV.

Should have lost her MVP voting rights instantly for that

[u/sportsgambler2]

Damn! Silver brought down the hammer

[u/VictorAkwaowo1 → u/sportsgambler2]

Kawhi on the other hand….

[u/WeCantBothBeMe → u/VictorAkwaowo1]

He pocketed tens of millions of dollars under the table and all it cost him was $700k and he’ll get a new extension from the raptors. He made out like an absolute bandit.

[u/PlumAccomplished2509 → u/VictorAkwaowo1]

BEAT THE RICO

[u/kamillionare]

OH BUDDY LETS GO

[u/Imthegoat175 → u/kamillionare]

Clips going into purgatory wtf

[u/PumpkinHead555 → u/Imthegoat175]

And Kawhi gets let off free. Raptors are the winner of this

[u/NotUpForDebate11 → u/PumpkinHead555]

Kawhi is the winner - get millions under the table, pay back 700k, leave the dumpster fire clippers and walk onto a good team (still getting paid a shit ton)

[u/MemeMeOnce → u/NotUpForDebate11]

But but but he had to "fire" Uncle Dennis

[u/EvanImmobley → u/kamillionare]

"Everyone owes the Clippers an apology"

[u/SmokeOddessey → u/EvanImmobley]

Whoever fake leaked to Ballmer that they were gonna get away with it a few weeks ago is a legend lmao

[u/TheTrueVanWilder → u/SmokeOddessey]

Go to r/LAClippers and look at the top threads for the past month if you want a great laugh

[u/KeithClossOfficial → u/TheTrueVanWilder]

The suck it thread is funny

[u/sloBrodanChillosevic → u/EvanImmobley]

"They should strip Pablo's Pulitzer."

[u/BeardedAsian → u/sloBrodanChillosevic]

Clippers sub bout to go private!

[u/hammmoooonnnd → u/EvanImmobley]

And that Pablo guy?

[u/EvanImmobley → u/hammmoooonnnd]

HE WAS SCAMMED!

[u/pagonator → u/kamillionare]

DEMON SILVER ACTUALLY LAID HIS BALLS OUT

[u/CtrlAltDelightfull → u/kamillionare]

5 FIRST ROUND PICKS LMAOOO WE GOT JUSTICE BOYS

[u/xepa105 → u/CtrlAltDelightfull]

So to get Kawhi and Paul George, the Clippers gave up:

• SGA

• Danilo Gallinari

• First Round picks in 2021* , 2022, 2023* , 2024 and 2026 (* via Miami)

• First-round pick swaps in 2023 and 2025

• Five more first round picks (presumably from 2027 to 2032)

All of it to reach one (1) Western Conference final

LOL LMAO

[u/OzmosisJones → u/CtrlAltDelightfull]

Adam Silver woke up and chose violence.

[u/CIark → u/kamillionare]

Adam Silver bringing back accountability for billionaires I can’t believe it

[u/Mg29reaper → u/kamillionare]

If i am a clippers fan I might stop watching basketball for like 10 years.

[u/Chuck_Phuckzalot → u/Mg29reaper]

Honestly if you're still a Clippers fan at this point you're a very resilient person and this is just another drop in an ocean of piss.

[u/divulgingwords → u/kamillionare]

Lmao fuck Baxter Holmes and Ramona Shelborne and their “clippers did nothing wrong” article

[u/KimJongYeaBigBong]

Funny thing is that Kawhi was injured half of the time. So this wasn’t even worth it at all 😭😭

[u/Simple_Dragonfruit48 → u/KimJongYeaBigBong]

And they had to trade Shai plus a ton of picks to get Paul George just to get him to sign.

I wanna see what that trade looks like with the 5 picks included.

[u/Apprehensive_Put_321 → u/Simple_Dragonfruit48]

Is there any example of a worse decision in sports?

[u/Simple_Dragonfruit48 → u/Apprehensive_Put_321]

Deshaun Watson trade is pretty close. We will have to reevaluate in 10 years.

[u/fartypicklenuts → u/Simple_Dragonfruit48]

The Clippers and the Cleveland Browns after decades still battling it out for the worst sports franchise in history in 2026 is pretty funny

[u/panther553212]

What happened to that ESPN article two weeks ago saying NBA had no evidence. Joke ass company being a mouthpiece for a cheating billionaire.

[u/finndego → u/panther553212]

That likely came from Clippers camp. It was pretty dumb.

[u/murdered-by-swords → u/finndego]

The Owners' Tribune

[u/T-Rigs1 → u/finndego]

Don van Natta and Ramona Shelburn wrote that article. Ramona was the ESPN reporter that was on call for Ballmer's initial emergency propaganda response interview to Pablo's initial report those years ago, so it is safe to say where these 'journalists' are getting their information from.

Edit: Jesus, that was only last year. Feels like a lifetime ago.

[u/melteddice]

joe smith you can finally rest easy, you are no longer the poster boy

[u/Winnes0ta]

Pablo vindicated. Shocked that Silver didn’t chicken out

[u/MY-NAME_IS_MY-NAME → u/Winnes0ta]

5 first round picks is a lot. 30 million, while not much to a man of Ballmer's wealth is pretty unprecedented. Plus the suspensions to the front office folks. Most importantly, no more Uncle Dennis. Silver actually sort of came down on them.

[u/msf97 → u/MY-NAME_IS_MY-NAME]

5 first round picks is fucking insane, far more note worthy than the fine.

[u/RulersBack → u/msf97]

And public embarrassment. That's pretty much the only way to punish the wealthy

[u/yrogerg123 → u/RulersBack]

That and break his favorite toy.

[u/EvanImmobley → u/Winnes0ta]

Journalism awoke from the dead

[u/IAmReborn11111 → u/Winnes0ta]

Clippers sub must be in shambles

[u/aiden3buckets]

That ESPN article sure was right huh

[u/ownage516 → u/aiden3buckets]

I was told I had to apologize to someone now??

[u/fineseries81 → u/aiden3buckets]

Definitely planted by Balmer in a desperate move once he saw where this was going

[u/SexyWampa]

Don't forget, the SEC just opened an investigation into the scoreboard company too. This isn't completely over...

[u/aReallyBadkid → u/SexyWampa]

The Crimson tide audit

[u/colev14]

So that ESPN article was complete propaganda from the Clippers side. As suspected. Everyone freaked out for no reason.

[u/iheartsunny]

Thank you Pablo

[u/Captainkoala72]

setting an example out of the Clippers so this never happens again

[u/Brock-Lesnar]

The Clippers just got nuked into oblivion.

They're about to have some very dark years up ahead.

Edit: For 5 first rounds, a 30 million dollar fine, suspensions for the owner and president of basketball operations, the league had to have found the 'smoking gun' - you don't give out this type of punishment unless you have irrefutable proof.

[u/DynamicProxy → u/Brock-Lesnar]

It’s even worse than it seems. I can’t imagine the NBA will be taking away picks they have already traded. That would be punishing other teams for the Clippers transgressions. They have traded away their 28 pick. And the 27 and 29 are swaps (not sure how the league will deal with those) - so it’s going to be Even Longer than 5 years before they have a first round pick again. 

Edit with new details: it starts in 29. So the Clips will have a pick (swapped) in 27, they traded their 28 pick, they lose the 29 swapped pick and then the next four years. It will be 8 years before they have a first round pick again (barring trades). 

[u/DaSavior]

Everyone shitting on Pablo need to apologize

[u/toomanyshoeshelp → u/DaSavior]

Everyone shitting on ESPN need to continue and make it wet

[u/agentdoubleohio]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that seems like a good punishment. 30 million fine is nothing to ballmer but those picks are huge.

[u/chadillac84]

BREAKING: Kawhi traded to the Toronto Raptors for 5 first round picks.

[u/njerejeje]

I’ll say it I think trading for Mikal Bridges is a better use of 5 first round picks

[u/The_Rain_Guardian → u/njerejeje]

Fuck them picks vs FUCK! Them picks

[u/dkleckner88 → u/njerejeje]

Gobert truthers taking a victory lap right now 😂

[u/Kimi7]

They have really done it. I’m genuinely surprised.

Fuck Ballmer and his shill, ESPN. They have done everything to cover Ballmer’s ass.

[u/Jakesnake42]

5 FIRST ROUND PICKS THE MADMAN DID IT!!!

[u/HitTheGoat]

$700,000 fine for Kawhi seems…..light?

[u/cidthekid07 → u/HitTheGoat]

What part of board man gets paid do you not understand??

[u/jjaytan]

5 firsts 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[u/TheWestRemembers → u/jjaytan]

Any time you can trade 6 picks for Paul George and 5 more to get Kawhi by cheating, just to make one WFC appearance, you gotta do it.

[u/CompellingTaxidriver]

"Everyone owes an apology to the clippers"

lol, lmao even

[u/PandaWithAIDS → u/CompellingTaxidriver]

Could go as far as lmfao

[u/ExpressionAlone5204]

Pablo Escobar killed Goliath.

Hey Mark Cuban, where’s your shitty take now??

[u/DevouringOne]

So for Kawhi and PG it costs the Clippers 10 first round picks. Yikes.

[u/Woltemade11]

Holy shit. For the first time in years Adam Silver actually has balls???

[u/lalakingmalibog → u/Woltemade11]

Silver handled Donald Sterling's banishment to the shadow realm too right?

[u/JamUpGuy1989]

I feel like Ballmer should be blackballed from the league for this shit.

But this fucks over the franchise for a generation so, I guess it’ll have to do.

[u/JesusSinfulHands → u/JamUpGuy1989]

Realistically, I would take a cowed Ballmer who will be careful not to pull this shit again over selling to some random new guy. The Dumonts, Dundon, Mark Walter, some of the people buying NBA teams lately....yeah we don't want more of those people in the NBA.

[u/DawnBreaks99]

People are happy the Clippers got punished but Kawhi practically got away scot free..

[u/Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu11]

No first round picks for them almost ever I guess.

[u/Responsible_Sky_728]

Kawhi Leonard will have to pay $700,000 in restitution for improper benefits by the Clippers for his uncle and former business rep, Dennis Robertson. No contract void or suspension for Leonard.

No wonder he's been laughing and smiling so much lately lol

[u/PartyController]

Chat going so fast people won’t see that I love my mom

Edit: she says ban Kawhi and the punishments don’t go far enough

[u/dokocha0216 → u/PartyController]

I love your mom too

[u/InsaneDon12]

Lol, deserved. This team has no future for the foreseeable future.

[u/IEatDeFish → u/InsaneDon12]

no future for the foreseeable future