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The NBA dropping the hammer on the Clippers has brought a new spotlight to an ESPN report last month that suggested the league did not find any evidence that owner Steve Ballmer “funneled” money to Kawhi Leonard.
The NBA announced Wednesday that among the penalties, the Clippers are docked five first-round picks and fined $30 million. Ballmer is suspended from team operations for a year, with the report from the NBA’s law firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, alleging that he “knowingly sought to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities.”
ESPN reporters Ramona Shelburne, Don Van Natta Jr., and Baxter Holmes wrote in August that the NBA “found no evidence showing LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard in order to circumvent the salary cap.” The ESPN report added that the league’s investigation became centered on whether “the introduction of Leonard to team sponsors constitutes a violation of the league’s rules prohibiting salary cap circumvention.”
After publication, lead NBA spokesperson Mike Bass issued a statement saying, “ESPN’s article regarding the LA Clippers investigation—for which the NBA declined to cooperate—contains numerous and significant inaccuracies. The results in this matter will be made clear once the investigation is concluded.”
An ESPN spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday after the NBA released the findings and penalties from its investigation.
While ESPN may defend the story‘s technical accuracy, it presented it in a way that undersold how heavily the NBA would come down on Ballmer and the Clippers. Specifically, the ESPN report stated that “it’s unclear what specific rule the team would have violated or what the penalties would be” if it was found guilty of a “failure to supervise” employees, which seemingly downplayed the Clippers’ potential punishment. And while the investigators’ own report stopped short of stating that Ballmer directly “funneled” money to Leonard, it also called his denial that the Clippers weren’t involved in the arrangements beyond an initial introduction “inaccurate at (best).”
The league’s investigation into the Clippers came after podcaster Pablo Torre reported last year that Leonard had a separate deal with Clippers sponsor Aspiration, a non-bankrupt green banking company, that was intended to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap. Ballmer was an investor in Aspiration, which has since gone out of business. In addition to Aspiration, the law firm’s investigation found the two-time NBA Finals MVP had similar agreements with Clippers sponsors Boingo Wireless, Daktronics, and Lockton Insurance.
For their part, the Clippers have denied the NBA’s findings and vowed to fight them.
“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,” the team said in a statement sent to multiple outlets. “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 its fairness and accuracy.”
The Clippers added that they “intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process.”
Leonard, who was fined $700,000, issued a statement through his agent, Harrison Gaines, that accepted the league’s findings.
“Integrity and respect for this game are fundamental to who I am. I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family,” the statement said. “I entered into my contract with the Clippers as well as the agreements in question in good faith, fully committed to fulfilling my obligations and with no knowledge of any intent on anyone’s part to circumvent the salary cap.”
The Clippers agreed to trade Leonard to the Raptors in June. The trade has been on pause pending the league’s investigation and now it will be permitted to proceed.
