π Windhorst: Clippers need to accept punishment β SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports β scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- The LA Clippers were fined $30 million by the NBA for salary cap circumvention involving Kawhi Leonard and disclosed they spent $50 million on legal fees, while also losing five draft picks.
- Owner Steve Ballmer's net worth rose by $4.3 billion the day after the penalty based on his 330 million Microsoft shares β a figure Windhorst uses to put the fine in perspective.
- The NBA cut a plea deal with Leonard and the players' union ($700,000 fine) before announcing its findings, eliminating the Clippers' ability to take the case to a neutral arbitrator.
- The 2000 Minnesota Timberwolves lost five first-round picks for a similar Joe Smith violation; owner Glen Taylor initially fought, then accepted the penalty and got two picks back within a year.
- Then-commissioner David Stern said of the Wolves at the time: "They knew it was wrong. They did it anyway. They got caught. And now they have to pay the price. This is a fraud."
- The Clippers still hold trade assets including a potential deal with the Toronto Raptors for Brandon Ingram and two unprotected first-round picks, plus first-rounders in 2027 and 2029.
- Windhorst characterizes the Clippers' open letter to Adam Silver as "a classic precursor to a lawsuit" but warns their current legal team lacks the arbitration route the Wolves had in 2000.
Why it matters: The Clippers' choice between suing and cooperating carries a concrete precedent: the 2000 Wolves got two of five lost first-rounders back within a year by accepting their fate, and deputy commissioner Rick Buchanan β part of the team that handed down that penalty β helped engineer the current Clippers ruling, meaning the same architect is now deciding whether to grant clemency.
Ask SkimNews
