Clippers’ salary cap storm: allegations, investigations and alliance discipline review

On September 4, ESPN reporter Shams brought a big news, and NBA spokesman Mike Bath confirmed that the league has launched an investigation into media reports related to the Los Angeles Clippers. Earlier, the Clippers and their boss Ballmer were accused of trying to circumvent the NBA salary cap regulations by paying Leonard $28 million for "nominal work" payment, an incident that instantly caused an uproar in the basketball world.

Former ESPN contributor Pablo Torre broke the news that the Clippers paid Leonard the money with Ballmer's now bankrupt Aspiration company. Torre cites a large number of internal Aspiration documents to elaborate on the context of the incident. In September 2021, Ballmer injected $50 million into Aspiration, and then the Clippers reached a $300 million cooperation agreement with the company, involving publicity for it in the new stadium and jerseys. In April 2022, Leonard signed a four-year, $28 million endorsement contract with Aspiration, and at this time he had just completed a four-year, $176.3 million renewal with the Clippers, and there are special terms in the endorsement contract. If Leonard leaves the team, the agreement will expire, and he will be paid even if he does not cooperate with the publicity. An anonymous former Aspiration employee pointed out that the move was to evade the salary cap.

Faced with the allegations, the Clippers firmly denied that Ballmer and the team had never evaded the salary cap or misconduct, and said that they had terminated their cooperation due to Aspiration's breach of contract in the 2022-23 season, and were unaware of the inappropriateness of the company or its co-founder before the investigation, and were willing to cooperate with the investigation with all their strength. However, Aspiration is now under federal investigation for fraud, and its co-founder has pleaded guilty to telecom fraud, which undoubtedly adds to the complexity of the incident.

NBA has clear penalties for such wage cap evasion. According to the 2023 labor-cap agreement anti-evasion clause, if the team is verified, it will face a fine of up to $7.5 million, deprivation of draft picks, invalid contracts, and bans on the person involved. In NBA history, the Minnesota Timberwolves have suffered heavy fines such as deprivation of draft picks, fines and bans for their illegal secret agreement with Joe Smith.

It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time the Clippers have been punished for violations. In 2019, then-head coach Doug Rivers was fined twice for inappropriate remarks. The Clippers were investigated for improper requests from him and his team during the same year, while Leonard became a free agent. In 2020, although the lawsuit against Leonard was eventually rejected and not punished, the salary cap storm undoubtedly made the Clippers stand at the forefront of public opinion once again.

Now, 34-year-old Leonard renewed his contract with the Clippers until the 2026-27 season in 2024, and the Clippers still have to deal with illegal sack lawsuits from former strength and fitness coaches. This series of events not only concerns the reputation and future direction of the Clippers, but also attracts public attention to the implementation and regulation of the NBA salary cap system. What will be the result of this investigation, whether the Clippers will be severely punished for suspected violations, and whether Leonard's contract will be affected have become the focus of fans and media attention. The entire basketball community is waiting to see the subsequent development of this storm.