On Wednesday night, it was announced that the NBA had laid the hammer down on the Los Angeles Clippers over the Kawhi Leonard scandal. Notably, the Clippers were stripped of five future first-round picks.
People questioned whether Adam Silver had it in him to do so, given that he has been labeled as “soft” on those who break the rules during his tenure as commissioner. However, at least in this instance, his actions went against that narrative.
The last time a team had the hammer laid down on it was in 2000, under Silver’s predecessor, David Stern, when the Minnesota Timberwolves also lost five first-round picks for the illegal Joe Smith contracts. However, this was eventually softened by two picks.
The Clippers have to hope that something similar will happen for them.
Clippers hope to eventually receive a lesser penalty like the Wolves did
Just a brief refresher on what happened with the Timberwolves and Joe Smith: Minnesota signed the former first overall pick to three one-year deals well below market value. This was done in order to retain Smith’s Bird rights, and the team had promised to sign him to a much larger deal once this occurred. The team would be allowed to go over the salary cap to do so now that they had his Bird rights.
Once the illegal contracts were discovered, the Timberwolves were fined $3.5 million. Then-owner Glen Taylor and then-general manager Kevin McHale were both suspended for one year. Worst of all, as noted, the team lost a whopping five future first-round picks.
Now, a big issue is that the NBA has come out and said that the penalties are final. Ballmer has stated that he plans on fighting the massive penalties levied against him and the franchise, but it seems like the only way he will be able to do so is in court.
Given that the NBA previously returned draft picks to the Wolves, this possibility can't be ruled out, though.
After the Timberwolves were penalized, they didn’t have much success. Yes, they did reach the conference finals for the first time in franchise history in 2004, but Minnesota didn’t make the playoffs again until 2018.
The 2004 Timberwolves team also had one of the all-time greats in Kevin Garnett. The Clippers don’t, assuming Leonard is still traded to the Raptors. With the loss of that many first-round selections, it’s hard to see how LA will be able to find its next superstar.
As such, for the Clippers to escape the bleak situation that they're currently staring down, they might need the NBA to return some of their picks.
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