Sam Vecenie of The Athletic believes there is enough evidence to punish the Clippers but not enough to bring down the hammer You can't come down on them like Minnesota unless you find something like a written agreement I think they can get rid of a pick They can fine Ballmer 75M

Zach Lowe Adam should we understand that the Clippers punishment is final or is it still open to some sort of renegotiation in the vein of the Timberwolves with Joe Smith Adam Silver The discipline is final

PTFO The NBA was looking forward to settling and negotiating down the Clippers' punishment The Clippers fundamentally refused to settle and undercut the investigation at every turn giving the version of their defense to ESPN as the NBA's findings

Pablo Torre says the NBA approached Steve Ballmer told him they found wrongdoing and tried to get him to admit to it and accept the punishment Instead Ballmer chose to fight it so the NBA turned around and found a way to settle the matter with Kawhi and the NBPA

PTFO The DOJ could build a criminal conspiracy case against Steve Ballmer and the Clippers for securities fraud in the Kawhi Leonard scandal per former federal prosecutors Even in 2026 a creative theory could map out a road to jail time And thats before the US president gets involved

Adam Silver I think that in terms of Steve's Ballmer statement I'd say putting aside the precise words he chose to use Most importantly he indicated a willingness to accept the league's decision in this case and the accompanying sanctions so that's initially what I was most focused on

Pablo Torre on the Clippers' punishment I thought that it could've been more