Some NBA teams reportedly wanted the league to deliver a severe punishment to the Los Angeles Clippers over the organization’s salary-cap violations involving Kawhi Leonard, according to Brian Windhorst.
Speaking on SportsCenter, Windhorst said there were different perspectives around the league, but some teams believed the Clippers deserved a “crushing blow” after the NBA’s investigation uncovered multiple violations.
“There were some people who really felt like that the league should come down with a crushing blow, which is what they did,” Windhorst said.
The NBA ultimately imposed one of the most significant collections of penalties in league history after an independent investigation by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz found what it described as a “pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations.”
The Clippers must forfeit five consecutive first-round picks from 2029 through 2033 and pay a $30 million fine. Owner Steve Ballmer was suspended from all league and team activities for one year, while President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker received a one-year unpaid suspension and President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank was suspended without pay for six months.
Leonard was fined $700,000, while his former business manager Dennis Robertson received a five-year ban from conducting business with NBA teams and affiliates on behalf of players or other league personnel.
Windhorst also noted that some around the NBA viewed the penalties as a reflection of the broader failure of the Clippers’ Leonard era rather than simply punishment for the latest investigation.
“And there are other people who felt like a lot of the Clippers penalty with Kawhi Leonard had been doled out over time because this Kawhi Leonard arrangement was an absolute disaster for them,” Windhorst said.
Leonard joined the Clippers in 2019 after winning the championship and Finals MVP with the Toronto Raptors. He produced at an elite level when available, but injuries repeatedly limited his availability.
In 2025-26, Leonard played 65 games and averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists while shooting 50.5% from the field, 38.7% from three-point range and 89.2% from the free-throw line. He earned All-NBA Second Team honors and finished seventh in MVP voting.
Across six seasons with the Clippers, Leonard averaged 25.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game in the seasons listed from 2019-20 through 2025-26, although he missed the entire 2021-22 campaign with an ACL injury and played only 37 games in 2024-25.
Los Angeles finished 42-40 and ninth in the Western Conference last season before trading Leonard to Toronto. The franchise is now facing the loss of five future first-round selections at the same time it rebuilds its roster around a new core.
Windhorst also pointed to the broader significance of the ruling for NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
“I will say that there’s a lot of people that made a lot of assumptions about Adam Silver along the way. This is big of a punishment has ever been doled out in the history of the NBA. He has been presumed to be soft on crime to a certain extent at times over the years. That’s not something you can say today,” Windhorst said.
The NBA and NBPA agreed that the penalties are final and binding, adding another layer of significance to a ruling that could affect the Clippers’ competitive position for years.
