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NBA suspends Clippers owner Ballmer one year, fines team $30M for salary cap violations

Confirmed1 source · Sep 2, 2026

The league penalized the Los Angeles Clippers organization for circumventing salary cap rules in a case involving player Kawhi Leonard.

NBA suspends Clippers owner Ballmer one year, fines team $30M for salary cap violations
Image via NPR

What happened

The NBA suspended Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer for one year and ordered the team to pay a $30 million fine for violating salary cap circumvention rules. The violations involved player Kawhi Leonard, who was also individually fined $700,000 in cap circumvention penalties.

Context

Salary cap circumvention violations represent attempts to work around the league's financial guardrails designed to maintain competitive balance. The penalties impose significant financial consequences on the franchise ownership and signal enforcement of compensation rules affecting individual players.