INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Los Angeles Clippers proprietor Steve Ballmer will not battle the NBA’s wage cap circumvention punishment in a reversal of the staff’s preliminary defiance and vow to battle towards what it known as “a closely biased investigation.”
In his first public feedback because the NBA introduced a sweeping punishment towards the Clippers this month, Ballmer mentioned in an announcement posted on-line Sunday evening that the staff would adjust to the penalties handed down by the league.
The league suspended Ballmer for one 12 months, fined the staff $30 million and compelled it to forfeit 5 first-round draft picks.
Ballmer mentioned the staff has paid the advantageous.
“Whereas there are nonetheless disagreements in regards to the findings within the report, this isn’t the place I wish to focus,” he mentioned. “Group homeowners ought to assist, not distract.”
Ballmer apologized to Clippers followers, staff and his fellow homeowners for the “distraction and misery” attributable to the investigation that discovered the staff violated wage cap circumvention guidelines involving Kawhi Leonard.
“This has been a really tough time for everyone related to the Clippers, and for that, I’ve honest regrets,” Ballmer wrote. “I wish to apologize to our followers, staff, and fellow NBA staff homeowners for the distraction and misery this matter has precipitated, for which I settle for duty as principal proprietor.”
The league got here down onerous on the group after an almost yearlong investigation led by an out of doors regulation agency. The Clippers had mentioned a number of occasions that they’d completed nothing mistaken and anticipated to be exonerated.
After the penalties had been introduced, the staff mentioned it “vehemently” rejected the NBA’s findings and known as it “a closely biased investigation.”
The Clippers additionally launched a letter from Ballmer’s lawyer David Kelley to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver by which he described the investigation as “a witch hunt” and the following penalties as a “gross injustice.”
The NBA started investigating in September 2025 whether or not a $28 million endorsement contract between Leonard and Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC — an organization that filed for chapter final 12 months — broke league guidelines, following a report by journalist Pablo Torre. Earlier this 12 months, Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced to 14 years in federal jail after pleading responsible to defrauding buyers and lenders of at the very least $248 million.
The league mentioned Ballmer knowingly sought to assist Leonard receive off-court earnings offers, authorized a enterprise deal that he knew was a precondition for Aspiration to enter into an endorsement contract with Leonard, and for failing to create situations beneath which his staff adopted league guidelines.
Ballmer mentioned the staff is “dedicated to placing this chapter behind us.”
“The challenges forward of us are vital, however so is our resolve,” he mentioned. “We are going to proceed to construct our staff and put money into our neighborhood. The boldness of our followers is our precedence. With our proficient roster, excellent employees and clear imaginative and prescient, I’m sure that we are going to compete on the highest stage and be a corporation our followers will be happy with.”
Leonard’s commerce to the Toronto Raptors has been on maintain pending the result of the investigation. The Raptors have mentioned they nonetheless need Leonard, and he apparently is simply as wanting to return to the staff the place he gained an NBA title and was Finals MVP in 2019.
