Journalist Liz writes in an opinion piece that the NBA has handed down a severe penalty to the Los Angeles Clippers, forcing them to forfeit five first-round draft picks and pay a $30 million fine for violating the league's salary cap by giving Kawhi Leonard "no-show" jobs. According to Jesse Eisinger, this punishment is effective because it targets the team owner's desire to be seen as successful and "cool". The article argues that this type of penalty should be more widely used in corporate regulation, such as by limiting a company's ability to do business or recruit talent after committing wrongdoing. The author praises the Clippers' penalty as an example of "creative enforcement" from regulators.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-06,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
The Los Angeles Clippers, owned by Steve Ballmer, were penalized for creating "no-show" jobs for Kawhi Leonard to skirt the league's salary cap. The NBA imposed a $30 million fine and ordered the team to forfeit their next five first-round draft picks, which will likely keep them from being competitive for years. This punishment is notable because it's seen as a strong example of corporate accountability, with some comparing it favorably to the regulatory actions of other government agencies like the SEC. Gillian Zucker, the Clippers' team president, was also penalized for her role in creating these jobs and providing testimony that contradicted physical evidence. The penalty is significant because it not only affects the team's competitiveness but also impacts its owner, Ballmer, who will likely lose money from his Microsoft stake due to the lost dividend income.
Written for “NBA Corporate Regulator” on 2026-09-07,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
The NBA just showed corporate wrist-slappers how it’s done.
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it → show → slappers
The SEC, CFTC, OSHA, EPA, etc. should take some notes.
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SEC → take → notes
The penalty handed to the Los Angeles Clippers is the best I’ve seen as a reporter covering companies that sometimes behave badly.
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that → hand → companies
The Clippers will forfeit their next five first-round draft picks as penance for giving Kawhi Leonard “no-show” jobs, steered his way by team owner Steve Ballmer, to skirt the league’s salary cap.
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Clippers → forfeit → cap
The $30 million fine that comes along is nothing — it’s 10 days’ worth of the dividends Ballmer clips from his Microsoft stake — but the draft picks will likely exile the team to irrelevance for years.
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picks → come → years
It’s a penalty box worthy of an architecture award.
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It → ’ → award
It’s justice enough to win the approval of Jesse Eisinger, the ProPublica journalist who wrote the book on regulatory spinelessness.
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who → ’ → spinelessness
“A very successful punishment,” he tells me, because it “gets to the core of why these billionaires buy sports teams.
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billionaires → tell → teams
They’ve been losers since high school so they want to be cool, to be literal winners and have trophies.
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they → want → trophies
The Clippers being terrible will make Ballmer less cool and guarantee a chorus of boos from the $2 billion stadium the team just opened, which is going to be a lot emptier for a while.
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which → make → while
Corporate watchdogs should do more of this.
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watchdogs → do → this
What if, instead of paying $250 million after mishandling big stock trades, Morgan Stanley simply wasn’t allowed to do those trades for a while?
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Stanley → pay → while
They’d be reminded of their screw-up every time Goldman Sachs printed a winner.
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Sachs → remind → winner
A big tech company in trouble can’t recruit from Stanford or MIT for a few years.
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company → recruit → years
The Labor Department bans private-equity firms caught misbehaving from raising money from federal pension funds.
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Department → ban → funds
Telecoms that overcharge are excluded from spectrum auctions.
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that → overcharge → auctions
Media executives are banned from Sun Valley.
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executives → ban → Valley
The two standout pieces of corporate punishment over the past decade hit companies where it hurt.
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it → hit → companies
An asset cap forced Wells Fargo to turn away business after its fake-accounts scandal and it fell behind Citigroup in size.
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it → force → size
The Federal Aviation Administration limited Boeing’s production of 737s after repeated safety failures, and the Airbus A320 became the best-selling jet in aviation history.
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A320 → limit → history
We’re living in an age of creative enforcement from Washington.
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We → live → Washington
More of it should actually sting.
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More → sting → it
“We have a scourge of elite impunity.
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We → have → impunity
For white-collar crime, that means putting more rich (white) guys in prison.
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that → mean → prison
Elites need to suffer accountability for their wrongdoing.
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Elites → need → wrongdoing
My argument in the white-collar context is fines don’t work.
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fines → work → context
It gets to the core of why these billionaires buy sports teams: They’ve been losers since high school so they want to be cool, be literal winners and have trophies.
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they → get → trophies
What bites here is the draft picks.
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bites → bite → ?
The thing that works about it is the status-stripping.
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that → work → it
The team is likely to lose a lot of games and Ballmer is deprived of the essence of being jock-adjacent.
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Ballmer → lose → essence
You cheat in the IPO business, you can’t do IPOs for five years.
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you → cheat → years
You get reminded of your punishment every day you come into work.
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you → remind → work
It’s not writing a check and forgetting about it.”
Notable
- Gillian Zucker, Clippers team president, was also penalized for her role as a witness whose report contradicted physical evidence, highlighting the broad scope of the NBA’s punishments following the investigation, The Athletic reported.
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Athletic → write → investigation
