The long-awaited results of the NBA's investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers' alleged salary cap circumvention practices were finally released on Wednesday, Sept. 2, and the fallout is just beginning.
Among the punishments handed out, the Clippers must forfeit five first-round draft picks and pay a $30 million fine. Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers' superstar at the heart of the scandal, has been fined $700,000. Additionally, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and president of business operations Gillian Zucker have been suspended by the league for one year. Lawrence Frank, the team's president of basketball operations, has been suspended for six months.
The official investigation report from the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz explicitly lays out why the organization is facing the brunt of the penalties. Throughout the 36-page document, investigators state the three individuals most responsible for the Clippers' rule-breaking are Ballmer, Zucker and Frank, and call out the organization for obfuscating the investigation's efforts.
The report also notes investigators "continue to receive information relevant to the subjects discussed in this report" and will supplement their findings as appropriate. Wachtell Lipton said it conducted 73 interviews of 60 people and reviewed 200,000 pages of documents.
Here are 13 must-read segments from the investigation. Each is quoted directly from the report.

#clippers #report #lipton #president

The verdict is in regarding the Kawhi Leonard saga, and the results are not good for the All-Star forward or his soon-to-be former team.
A months-long independent investigation found the Los Angeles Clippers illegally circumvented the NBA salary cap when they facilitated outside endorsement deals with a collection of team-friendly sponsors, the league announced Wednesday.
Those sponsors were Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics and Lockton Insurance.
The resulting penalties are staggeringly stiff.
Due to what the league called a pattern of misconduct uncovered in the investigation, headed by the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the NBA has suspended team owner Steve Ballmer from all league and team activities for a year. He has also been fined $30 million.

#sponsors

Tennis icons Venus and Serena Williams, just about 15 months apart in age, have been known as a famous duo since breaking into the professional athletic world as teenage phenoms in the 1990s. While each sister has amassed a list of accomplishments in women's singles tennis and faced one another many times from across the net, they have a long history as doubles partners as well, with 22 career ******* les under their belts as a duo. The two have been by each other's sides through many life chapters, from winning trophies to serving as maid of honor at each other's weddings — and they'll be side by side yet again on Monday evening at the Cincinnati Open, reuniting for doubles for the first time since 2022. Ahead of the match up, WWD/FN rounds up some of their on and off-court looks through the years. Venus Williams (R) poses for photographers with her sister Serena (L) following the final match at the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Florida March 28 1999. Venus defeated Serena 6-1 4-6 6-4 to take the ******* le. Georges De Keerle In 1999, Venus was a Reebok partner while Serena was a Puma athlete, which was reflected through their looks at the time.
Follow Footwear News on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

#williams #many

The Toronto Raptors confirmed last week that their trade with the Los Angeles Clippers centered around Kawhi Leonard won’t be completed before the NBA wraps an investigation that’s captivated the basketball world. The league hired the law firm Wachtell Lipton to probe into a no-work, multi-million dollar endorsement deal the seven-time All-Star and two-time NBA Finals MVP signed with Aspiration, a now-bankrupt environmental company ensnared in a scandal that revolves around the Clippers potentially circumventing the salary cap.
The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov released a report on Tuesday that divulges more information about the ongoing investigation, which has seemingly grown since its inception. In it, Vorkunov reports that, along with looking into whether the Clippers manipulated the cap by striking a deal with Aspiration for Leonard, Wachtell has inspected if Leonard had a previously unreported endorsement deal with another company.
Plus, the firm has sifted to determine if the Clippers improperly covered expenses for Leonard and weren’t reimbursed for them, according to The Athletic.
If Leonard is punished as a result of the NBA’s investigation, Toronto could back out of its agreed-upon trade, which was first reported on June 30 and is supposed to deliver the 35-year-old Leonard back to the Raptors, with whom he won an NBA championship in 2019. In return, the Clippers have been poised to receive two-time All-Star Brandon Ingram and Gradey ******* as well as first-round draft picks in 2031 and 2033, second-round selections in 2030 and 2033 and a first-round pick swap in 2027, per NBA insider Jake Fischer.
Early last month, at NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s annual news conference leading up to the NBA Finals, he didn’t specify when Wachtell Lipton’s investigation report will arrive on his desk, although he did say it was “close to the point now where I think we need to wrap this up.”

While the LA Clippers, Leonard and now the Raptors all wait for a conclusion, the investigation has grown in scope since it began, according to multiple sources who spoke to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely. Not only has Wachtell Lipton, the league’s go-to law firm hired to conduct the inquiry, inspected if the Clippers circumvented the NBA salary cap by facilitating a sponsorship deal for Leonard with Aspiration, it has also looked into whether the Clippers improperly covered expenses for Leonard but were not reimbursed for them, those sources said. And the firm has examined if Leonard had a previously unreported endorsement deal with another company, those sources said.
New York Times
New York Times
Doug Smith: Kawhi Leonard sauntering up to mid-court to visit with Larry and Judy Tanenbaum and Bobby Webster might be of note to Raptors fans who absolutely won’t read anything into it — 7/13/2026 Bluesky
Fullcourtpass: Scottie Barnes on the Raptors potential addition of Kawhi Leonard "Seems very dangerous... We’re trying to take candy from a baby essentially." — 7/11/2026 x.com