Why the Clippers are cooked after losing 5 first-round picks in Kawhi Leonard ruling

So it finally happened. The NBA has ruled in the year-long investigation into former Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard and salary cap circumvention via the Los Angeles-based financial services company Aspiration.

Per a report from Shams Charania, the penalties include the loss of five first-round picks for the Clippers, along with suspensions for Steve Ballmer, Lawrence Frank and Gillian Zucker. Ballmer’s suspension carries a $30 million fine, while Leonard has been ordered to pay $700,000 in restitution for improper benefits received from the organization. Additionally, the league has banned Dennis Robertson, Leonard’s uncle and former business representative, from any future business dealings within the NBA.

The news is a crushing blow for the Clippers, who are looking to move past the struggles of the past few years and build a new, younger team. Not only does it hamper their future, but it also tethers them to one of the most franchise-altering mistakes, arguably, in NBA history. In 2019, the Los Angeles Clippers did everything that they could to secure the services of reigning 2019 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. While we didn’t know how far they went behind the scenes, their front-office moves ultimately show the lengths they went to secure the two-time champion.

The Clippers traded Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, and significant draft compensation to land George. That was ultimately enough to get Leonard to commit to joining the organization, as many believe they made two key roster additions to contend for an NBA championship in the West. But what ultimately became of that transaction was an underwhelming error of: the Clippers were good enough in the regular season, but not good enough to truly take the leap to become NBA champions.

The Clippers gave up a 3-1 lead over Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the 2020 NBA playoffs and ultimately showed they simply weren’t equipped to compete for championships. In the years that followed, they posted incremental success, fueled by injuries to key players. The Clippers had a phenomenal start to the 2021 playoffs before Kawhi Leonard partially tore his right ACL in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz. Leonard ultimately didn’t return to the court that postseason.  While the Clippers made their first Western Conference Finals appearance in franchise history, they ultimately couldn’t beat the Chris Paul- and Devin Booker-led Phoenix Suns to reach the NBA Finals.

They didn’t get a chance to see the successes of the first two seasons of the Leonard-George tandem, as they didn’t make the playoffs in the 2021-2022 season. In the 22-23 season, they lost in the first round to the Phoenix Suns following another injury to Kawhi Leonard in Game 2 of the series. The 2023-2024 season saw them try to change the formula by adding James Harden, and while they finished fourth in the Western Conference, they were ultimately beaten by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round. It didn’t take long for the pairing of George and Leonard to fall short, as George departed the team to join the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2024 offseason. The pairing of George and Leonard didn’t last long, as George departed the team to join the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2024 offseason.

At seven seasons with Kawhi Leonard, the only success that the team has yielded is a couple of successful regular-season campaigns and three playoff series victories. Yet the Clippers watched former draftee Shai Gilgeous-Alexander grow into a two-time MVP and an NBA champion. One of the Clippers’ draft picks turned out to work in the Thunder’s favor, as the team drafted Jalen Williams. It was clear that both Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers looked to turn the page on an uneventful seven years by trading him back to the Toronto Raptors. But the mistakes of the last seven years, both on the court and behind closed doors, are set to plague the Clippers for the next decade.

Without those five first-round picks, the rebuild has come to a drastic halt. The shroud of controversy surrounding the Clippers could cause players to avoid signing with them. Tyronn Lue and his coaching staff now have to contend with competing with a team that simply would not have the firepower to compete in a loaded Western Conference. Past mistakes have affected the present, and the future doesn’t look bright for the Clippers.

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