Some NBA groups reportedly needed the league to ship a extreme punishment to the Los Angeles Clippers over the group’s salary-cap violations involving Kawhi Leonard, in accordance with Brian Windhorst.
Talking on SportsCenter, Windhorst stated there have been totally different views across the league, however some groups believed the Clippers deserved a “crushing blow” after the NBA’s investigation uncovered a number of violations.
“There have been some individuals who actually felt like that the league ought to come down with a crushing blow, which is what they did,” Windhorst stated.
The NBA ultimately imposed one of the most significant collections of penalties in league history after an impartial investigation by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz discovered what it described as a “sample of misconduct and a number of important guidelines violations.”
The Clippers should forfeit 5 consecutive first-round picks from 2029 by way of 2033 and pay a $30 million positive. Proprietor Steve Ballmer was suspended from all league and group actions for one yr, whereas President of Enterprise Operations Gillian Zucker acquired a one-year unpaid suspension and President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank was suspended with out pay for six months.
Leonard was fined $700,000, whereas his former enterprise supervisor Dennis Robertson acquired a five-year ban from conducting enterprise with NBA groups and associates on behalf of gamers or different league personnel.
Windhorst additionally famous that some across the NBA seen the penalties as a mirrored image of the broader failure of the Clippers’ Leonard period reasonably than merely punishment for the newest investigation.
“And there are different individuals who felt like a variety of the Clippers penalty with Kawhi Leonard had been doled out over time as a result of this Kawhi Leonard association was an absolute catastrophe for them,” Windhorst stated.
Leonard joined the Clippers in 2019 after successful the championship and Finals MVP with the Toronto Raptors. He produced at an elite degree when accessible, however accidents repeatedly restricted his availability.
In 2025-26, Leonard performed 65 video games and averaged 27.9 factors, 6.4 rebounds and three.6 assists whereas taking pictures 50.5% from the sector, 38.7% from three-point vary and 89.2% from the free-throw line. He earned All-NBA Second Workforce honors and completed seventh in MVP voting.
Throughout six seasons with the Clippers, Leonard averaged 25.5 factors, 6.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists per recreation within the seasons listed from 2019-20 by way of 2025-26, though he missed your entire 2021-22 marketing campaign with an ACL damage and performed solely 37 video games in 2024-25.
Los Angeles completed 42-40 and ninth within the Western Convention final season earlier than trading Leonard to Toronto. The franchise is now going through the lack of 5 future first-round choices on the identical time it rebuilds its roster round a brand new core.
Windhorst additionally pointed to the broader significance of the ruling for NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
“I’ll say that there’s lots of people that made a variety of assumptions about Adam Silver alongside the best way. That is large of a punishment has ever been doled out within the historical past of the NBA. He has been presumed to be delicate on crime to a sure extent at instances over time. That’s not one thing you possibly can say as we speak,” Windhorst stated.
The NBA and NBPA agreed that the penalties are closing and binding, including one other layer of significance to a ruling that would have an effect on the Clippers’ aggressive place for years.
