Torre: NBA Hit Steve Ballmer With Largest Owner Sanction in American Sports History
Pablo Torre · Pablo Torre Explains the Steve Ballmer & Kawhi Leonard Scandal · Sep 3, 2026 · at 12:08
Investigative sports journalist Pablo Torre breaks down the NBA's reported penalties against Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers over alleged salary cap circumvention regarding Kawhi Leonard.
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“This was the biggest punishment for an owner in the history of, I think, American professional sports, and the NBA took five first-round picks, which is the most you could imagine. They took thirty million dollars, which is a rounding error, of course, for Ballmer. They made him pay the fifty million dollar legal fee to Wachtell Lipton, the NBA's outside counsel”
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