The NBA has lowered the boom on the Los Angeles Clippers, suspending owner Steve Ballmer and stripping the team of draft picks in the wake of a salary-cap probe centered on star player Kawhi Leonard.

The team will forfeit their first-round picks in the NBA Draft from 2029 through 2033, the league said.

Ballmer was suspended for “all league and team activities for one year,” the NBA said in a press release, for “knowingly” helping to arrange for a series of phony sponsorship deals. The ultimate offense, as the league described it, was the former Microsoft CEO’s “failure to create conditions under which his organization abided by the NBA’s circumvention rules.”

President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker and President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank were suspended without pay for one year and six months, respectively.

Leonard, a two-time NBA Finals MVP signed by the Clippers as a free agent in 2019, was not suspended but was fined $700,000.

Law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz “found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations” during their investigation of the matter, the NBA said. The league noted that the Clippers were not a first-time offender, which was a factor in the extent of the disciplinary actions, which are believed to be the harshest in league history.

“The NBA’s collectively bargained system for determining player compensation is a fundamental component of the basketball competition that the league oversees for the benefit of the teams and players and ultimately the fans,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers’ institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct. The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations.”

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