Raptors Land Kawhi Leonard for 2 Firsts as NBA Strips Clippers of 5 Picks
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 14
Raptors Land Kawhi Leonard for 2 Firsts as NBA Strips Clippers of 5 Picks
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 14
Summary
Kawhi Leonard officially returned to Toronto after the NBA cleared a trade that had been frozen during its investigation into the Clippers’ 2019 signing of the star.
Five forfeited first-round picks and a $30 million fine hit Los Angeles after the league found Leonard received impermissible benefits, including a $28 million “no-show job” tied to salary-cap circumvention.
Toronto sent 2031 and 2033 unprotected first-round picks, a 2027 first-round swap, Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, and two second-rounders, while the Clippers still keep the incoming Raptors picks despite losing five of their own.
One-year suspensions for owner Steve Ballmer and business president Gillian Zucker, plus a six-month ban for basketball operations chief Lawrence Frank, deepened the fallout; Leonard was fined $700,000 and his advisor Dennis Robertson was barred from future league business.
Leonard, a 2019 Finals hero in Toronto, said he had no knowledge of any plan to evade the cap and is returning with a “clean slate” after averaging 27.9 points in 65 games last season.
With the NBA dropping historic penalties on the Clippers, will the looming federal criminal probe expose even deeper corruption in Kawhi's 2019 signing?
Stripped of their star and five future draft picks, how can the crippled Clippers possibly survive the most devastating penalties in NBA history?