Steve Ballmer got suspended by the NBA because of a podcast and a jumbotron corruption scandal
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has suspended LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and team president Gillian Zucker for one year following a scandal involving illicit payments to Kawhi Leonard. The investigation, sparked by a podcast, revealed that the team used a scoreboard contract to funnel money to Leonard in violation of salary cap rules.
Why it matters
This represents a major governance crisis in professional sports, highlighting how team owners may attempt to bypass salary caps through complex corporate partnerships.
Last September, Steve Ballmer insisted in an ESPN interview that the Clippers weren’t involved in a shady-looking $28 million endorsement deal for his star player, Kawhi Leonard, that involved no actual endorsing. Now, the former Microsoft CEO has been suspended by the NBA for a year, while the league says his team will forfeit five future draft picks and pay a $30 million fine, among other penalties.
A year later, an NBA-commissioned 35-page report by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is basically calling him a liar, saying those claims were “inaccurate (at best) with respect to Mr. Ballmer” and “clearly false” when it came to Clippers president of business operations Gillian Zucker, who is also suspended for a year. Leonard has accepted the punishment of a $700,000 fine and a ban for his business manager.
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