00:00After a year-long investigation, the NBA brought the hammer down on the Los Angeles Clippers for
00:06violating the league's salary cap circumvention rules. The NBA announced that it found the Clippers
00:10initiated off-court income opportunities for star forward Kawhi Leonard with four different companies
00:15that the team also did business with. And as a result of the investigation, the Clippers have
00:19been stripped of five first-round picks from 2028 to 2033. The league also issued a $30 million
00:25dollar fine to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and suspended Ballmer for one year, suspended president
00:30of business operations Jillian Zucker for one year, and suspended president of basketball operations
00:35Lawrence Frank for six months. Kawhi Leonard will also have to pay the league $700,000 for his
00:41connections with the violations. Now for the Clippers, their future looks bleak in light of
00:45no longer controlling their first-round draft picks for the foreseeable future. And for Kawhi Leonard,
00:50this investigation being over and the punishments from the investigation opens up him being able
00:54to join the Toronto Raptors and the Clippers and Raptors completing the trade that they agreed to
00:58a couple months ago.
