The Clippers needed to trade Kawhi Leonard, but the sanctions from the NBA will be felt for years.
Page S2From§Eachthe early bird edition — 16 September 2026
Kawhi Leonard cost the Clippers 10 first-round picks and $30 million, then paid over $7 million to leave.
Hot Mic Moment
This reporter has had it with leagues investigating themselves on their own clock. The violation traces to 2021 by the Post's own timeline; the findings didn't land until September 2nd of this year, and only after outside companies cooperated and, per the Post, someone inside turned over records. The penalty reaching the owner tops out at one year. The penalty reaching the roster runs first-round picks from 2029 through 2033. Somebody hand this file to the political desk — this reporter does game recaps.
Gushis side
Kawhi Leonard is officially a Raptor this morning, closing a trade the league froze back in June while it decided whether the Los Angeles Clippers built their contender by cheating the salary cap. This reporter recalls the extension at the center of it going on the books in 2023, a clean deal for a superstar.
The NBA's findings landed September 2nd: the Clippers ran the deal through outside companies to dodge the cap. The league fined the organization something near $300 million, stripped picks clear out to 2040, and sent owner Steve Ballmer off on what this reporter understands to be a gentlemanly two-year holiday.
Tally the whole Kawhi era and this reporter makes it Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, eleven first-round picks, two swaps, thirty million dollars, and a championship banner now hanging over the building.
Shedding all that dead weight, naturally, sets the Clippers up as this reporter's pick for a title run next spring.
Trudyher side
2021, Gus. New York Post has the Clippers signing that extension in 2021, not 2023 — the year matters, it's the year the league says the cheating started.
Thirty million, not three hundred. Picks run 2029 through 2033, five drafts, not fifteen. And Ballmer's suspension is one year, not two — Wikipedia's own ESPN sourcing. Nobody's on holiday.
Ten picks. No banner. New York Post's own math has this costing everything above and delivering zero Finals appearances. Read the headline, sugar.
Same Post story says the opposite: Clippers "more irrelevant than ever," sanctions "felt for years." That's not next spring. That's the rest of the decade.
Nobody's reassigning you, Gus — finish the box score. But you had the shape of it: the violation dates to that 2021 extension, the findings landed September 2nd, and Ballmer's one-year suspension sits against picks gone clear through 2033. Go lie down.
“The owner draws a one-year timeout and the franchise loses picks that don't come due until 2033 — both are bills nobody pays for years. The guy who's actually out real money this week is the player getting shipped to Canada. The fine sits on the company; the bill lands on the person.”
“The system worked exactly as designed — an independent investigation, a thirty-six page outside report, real penalties, nobody's above the cap. Sure, it took from 2021 to 2026 to get there and the picks don't come due till 2033, but that's thoroughness, not — did I say five years? That's not stalling, that's diligence.”
The receipts
Kawhi Leonard is officially a Raptor. The Clippers traded Leonard to Toronto in June, but the deal was put on hold amid the NBA’s investigation into the LA organization violating salary cap circumvention rules. The league found wrongdoing and the Clippers’ punishment includes losing five first-round picks and a $30 million fine.
· Where the Clippers-Raptors, Kawhi Leonard trade stands amidst federal investigation from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· In basketball, the NBA announces the results of its investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers' signing of star player Kawhi Leonard in 2022. The league determines that the Clippers violated the leag from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Who’s Clippers executive at center of Kawhi Leonard scandal? from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Clippers rat turns over 6-year notes of ‘illicit deals’ in Kawhi Leonard investigation from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· Clippers’ staggering Kawhi Leonard bill is almost too insane to believe from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· Kawhi Leonard-Clippers scandal takes serious turn with federal investigation update from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.