The trade that sends Kawhi Leonard back to Toronto is finally complete, but the NBA’s ruling leaves the bigger headline in Los Angeles: Leonard is fined, not suspended, while the Clippers absorb a $30 million penalty and lose five first-round picks.
The league’s decision closes a deal that had been on hold while the investigation played out. On Monday, the NBA approved the trade between the Raptors and Clippers, sending Leonard back to the franchise where he won a championship in 2019. For Toronto, it is a reunion with a player who arrives with a résumé that still stands out: seven-time All-Star, two-time NBA champion, and last season’s production in Los Angeles of 27.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.9 steals and 0.4 blocks per game.
But the transaction is inseparable from the punishment that came with it.
Leonard was fined $700,000 and avoided a suspension. His manager, Dennis Robertson, received a five-year ban from involvement in the NBA. Leonard said he “accepted full responsibility for lapses in judgment made by people within his inner circle,” a statement that places the personal penalty alongside the wider fallout around the deal.
The Clippers’ consequences were far heavier. The NBA stripped the team of five first-round picks from 2029 through 2033 and fined it $30 million. Steve Ballmer was suspended for one year, and the league also suspended Gillian Zucker for one year and Lawrence Frank for six months. Adam Silver said he was disappointed by the Clippers’ violations and leadership failures.
Ballmer has chosen not to fight the ruling. He also apologized to Clippers fans, employees and fellow owners for the distraction and distress caused by the investigation. That leaves the franchise with the punishment intact rather than a continuing challenge, and with a future draft cupboard that is now thinner for years to come.
Toronto, meanwhile, gets the player it had been waiting to officially add. Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said, “We’re thrilled to welcome Kawhi back to Toronto.” Leonard is expected to speak with reporters at Toronto’s media day on Sept. 28, another marker that the return is no longer theoretical.
The trade changes Leonard’s team immediately. The larger cost of the episode stays attached to the Clippers.