NBA essentially gave Clippers maximum punishment allowed under CBA

If it seemed like the NBA threw everything it had at the Clippers, that’s because it pretty much did.

John Hollinger of The Athletic notes that the penalties imposed in the Kawhi Leonard salary-cap circumvention case essentially reached the limits permitted by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The maximum fine for salary-cap circumvention is $7.5 million. Investigators found violations involving endorsement agreements with four companies, allowing the league to assess the penalty four times. Total damage: $30 million.

Owner Steve Ballmer and president of business operations Gillian Zucker were each suspended for one year. That’s also the maximum suspension the CBA permits for team owners and executives in these circumstances, Hollinger notes.

Then there are the draft picks. The Clippers technically control more than five first-round selections during the relevant period, but some come with conditions such as swap rights. The NBA instead forfeited five unprotected first-rounders without those strings attached.

So, yeah, Adam Silver didn’t exactly send the Clippers to their room without dessert.

The league conducted an investigation lasting roughly a year and concluded that serious circumvention violations occurred.

Then it apparently went about as far as its own rules allowed in punishing them.