NBA Brings the Hammer on the Clippers — $30 Million Fine, 5 First-Round Draft Picks, and Steve Ballmer Is Banned for a Year

The useful part

Ballmer on Wednesday after a year-long investigation determined that they circumvented the league's salary cap rules to help funnel millions to Kawhi Leonard. The Clippers will lose five first-round picks — selections in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033 — and are being fined $30 million, the league announced. Ballmer has been suspended for one year, the NBA said, "for knowingly seeking to help Mr.

How it works

• Aspiration was the jersey-patch sponsor for the Clippers, and after Leonard signed with the Clippers, Aspiration signed Leonard to a $28 million no-show "endorsement" deal.
• If tech companies were teams in a similar league, Microsoft would have been fined dozens of times throughout the '80s and '90s and '00s.
• Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities." The NBA said Ballmer approved a Clippers deal with Aspiration because he knew it was a precondition for the company to enter into a sponsorship deal with Leonard.
• Basically Steve Ballmer invested over $50 million in a now-bankrupt startup named Aspiration.
• Leonard asked for, and then received, more money than his on-the-books salary.

What to take from it

It's a classic Microsoft dirty-tricks move to circumvent the NBA's player salary cap. The difference is that the NBA is a league with a strong commissioner's office that can investigate cheating and impose serious penalties.

Details worth keeping

Mike Vorkunov, reporting for The Athletic (gift link): The Clippers, according to NBA investigators, tried to evade NBA rules on circumvention by creating a "novel theory" that it was OK to introduce business partners to players if the player or their representative asked for introductions. There's nothing illegal about what Ballmer and the Clippers did.