The LA Clippers have been fined $30m (£22.2m) by the National Basketball Association (NBA) for violating salary rules in order to funnel millions of dollars to star player Kawhi Leonard.
The fine – the largest in the league’s history – comes after the NBA report said Leonard pressured the Clippers into “obtaining off-court income opportunities [and] successfully obtaining those opportunities”.
The Clippers will also have to forfeit five first-round draft picks between 2029 and 2033, while owner Steve Ballmer has been suspended from all league and team activities for 12 months for his role in matters involving Leonard’s sponsorship contracts during his time with the franchise.
The NBA said the Clippers had been guilty of “knowingly seeking to help Mr Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities”.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he was “deeply disappointed” by the Clippers’ “flagrant violations” of the rules and said he believed the “severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations”.
Two-time NBA champion Leonard has been fined $700,000 (£518,997) by the league.
The team’s president of business operations, Gillian Zucker, has been suspended for one year without pay for providing “misleading statements to investigators”.
The punishments come after the NBA said its month-long investigation “found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organisation, a prior offender of the salary-cap circumvention rules”.
Following the ruling, Leonard, 35, said he “accepts full responsibility” for his actions and “regrets the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family”.
“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,” he wrote on Instagram.
The two-time NBA Finals MVP joined the Clippers in 2019 and spent seven years with the franchise before leaving earlier this year.
The NBA said both the “organisation and personnel” of the Clippers will be subject to a compliance and monitoring programme overseen by the league for five years.