The Clippers have spent years trying to establish themselves as models of the modern National Basketball Association (NBA), and for a while it appeared Steve Ballmer’s money, ambition, and willingness to spend would finally erase their long history of irrelevance. The move into the Intuit Dome, the pursuit of stars, and the arrival of Kawhi Leonard were all part of the transformation. Recent developments, however, have reminded them of an inescapable truth about professional sports: Wealth can buy opportunity, but it cannot buy exemption from the rules. The league’s punishment following its yearlong investigation into their dealings with their prized acquisition is severe; five first-round picks forfeited from 2029 through 2033, a $30-million fine and a one-year suspension for the ambitious owner, with additional suspensions for executives Lawrence Frank and Gillian Zucker.
The most consequential part of the punishment, though, is not the money or even Ballmer’s suspension. It is the draft capital. Five first-round picks represent the future, and the Clippers have effectively sacrificed a portion of their future for the decisions they made during the Leonard era. There is only one comparable episode in NBA history, when the Timberwolves lost five first-round selections after the league uncovered circumvention of the salary cap in the renewal of Joe Smith’s contract. Two of the picks were eventually returned, but the damage lingered. The Wolves remained competitive because Kevin Garnett was entering his prime, even reaching the Western Conference finals in 2004, but an inability to replenish the roster through the draft ultimately contributed to a long decline. The Clips do not have the same luxury. They missed the playoffs last season and are now attempting to move on from Leonard.
To be sure, the Clippers still have cap flexibility, and some assets remain courtesy of previous transactions. That said, the NBA is increasingly a league in which draft picks are currency and critical to the influx of young talent and the facilitation of trades. Because of the Stepien Rule, they cannot simply replace the missing selections by dealing away whatever picks remain. Their ability to reshape the roster through trades has therefore been sharply reduced at a time when they need to rebuild. Even free agency becomes more complicated when prospective stars are asked to join them even as their competitive horizon has suddenly become much less certain. The league’s penalty does not merely punish what they did; it changes what they are capable of doing next.
There is, however, a lesson in the Timberwolves precedent that the Clippers would do well to consider. Ballmer and Co. should resist the instinct to accept the punishment, negotiate with the league, and demonstrate that they learned from their mistake. The circumstances are not identical, and there is no guarantee the NBA will offer them a similar concession, but precedent matters. They have already spent heavily on lawyers in disputing the league’s conclusions. Continuing to fight may satisfy a sense of principle, but the more important question is whether it improves their position at all. Sometimes, the most effective response to a bad situation is not to win the argument, but to minimize the damage.
For all the noise surrounding the investigation, the real verdict will not be measured by the $30-million check or by Ballmer’s one-year absence from league activities. It will be measured years from now, when the Clippers are trying to rebuild and cannot make the moves that others can. The Leonard era was supposed to bring them credibility on the court and off. Instead, it may ultimately be remembered as the period that left them paying their ambition long after their championship window had closed. The lesson is not that teams should stop taking risks or spending money. It is that in a league built around competitive balance, the line between aggressive team-building and trying to find an advantage outside the rules matters enormously. They crossed that line, and now they have to live with the consequences not just for one season, but for the foreseeable future they were ironically trying to secure.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.