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.

  • TrippyFocus@lemmy.mlOPMEnglish
    101·
    24 天前

    Wow really glad they threw the book at Ballmer and the Clippers.

    Would have really lost my interest in the league if they had let this slide since it just makes the richest teams have a massive advantage. Really glad they did this.

    • TAG@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      24 天前

      Would have really lost my interest in the league if they had let this slide since it just makes the richest teams have a massive advantage. Really glad they did this.

      One of the great things about the NBA is that owners cannot simply buy a championship. It did not work for Prokhorov and the Nets and it has not worked for Balmer with the Clippers.

      Obviously the inverse is true. Plenty of teams fell out of championship contention because the owner tried to cut payroll.

    • RandAlThor@lemmy.caMEnglish
      3·
      24 天前

      Yeah league’s credibility was on the line with me for sure. There was too much shit out already and if they try to paper it over, man I would have been done.