The Los Angeles Clippers have faced penalties for breaching salary cap rules during Kawhi Leonard’s contract extension in 2021.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that the NBA received considerable assistance from various companies linked to the Clippers’ investigation, including critical insights from the team’s president of basketball operations, Lawrence Frank, without needing a subpoena.
According to Windhorst, “There was even cooperation from within the Clippers’ own building. Lawrence Frank, their team president, he handed over notes that he took about making illicit deals with Dennis Robertson six years ago.”
Frank retained these notes for six years before deciding to submit them, which, as it turns out, earned him some leniency from the league.
“These companies came forward and gave this information because they want to keep doing business with the NBA,” Windhorst added, highlighting the motivations behind the cooperation.
Robertson, Leonard’s uncle and business manager until recently, was pivotal in sparking the investigation into the Clippers and his nephew. The league has now banned him from contact with any team for a five-year period.
The Clippers disagreed with the NBA’s findings, asserting their intent to “vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us” as they await an ethical arbitration process.
Owner Steve Ballmer is suspended from all league and team affairs for one year. Meanwhile, Frank, who is under scrutiny for not reporting Robertson’s illegal activities and facilitating them, has received a six-month unpaid suspension.
In addition to these suspensions, the Clippers could face severe consequences, including the loss of five first-round draft picks and a hefty fine of $30 million. The organization and its personnel will also be under a compliance and monitoring program overseen by the NBA for the next five years.
