The Los Angeles Clippers were finally handed a punishment for violating the league's salary cap circumvention rules, the NBA announced Wednesday.
The case involved Kawhi Leonard, though the superstar avoided suspension and "only" has to pay $700,000. He is now expected to make his way to Toronto via trade. There's a "full expectation" that the deal with the Raptors will now go through, ESPN's Shams Charania reported.
Meanwhile, the league decided to hand a far more severe punishment to the actual Clippers organization. That includes the loss of five future first-round picks (2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033), a $30 million fine, and a year-long suspension for owner Steve Ballmer.
That's a steeeep punishment. It's not necessarily a death sentence, however.
Clippers look to climb out of Kawhi Leonard era
Even without those five future first-rounders, the Clippers have a decent long-term outlook. They have young assets like their potential future backcourt of Darius Garland and rookie Keaton Wagler, the No. 5 overall pick in this year's draft.
They also still have some draft capital, most notably owning the Toronto Raptors ' unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 thanks to part of this deal that reunites Leonard in Toronto.
Perhaps the Clippers proactively acquired these future assets knowing there could be potential ramifications surrounding their handling of Leonard's salary? I'll leave that one for Pablo Torre.
From a pure basketball standpoint, the writing seemed to be on the wall anyway for Los Angeles to embrace a rebuild, moving on from their trio of James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and Ivica Zubac that had a limited ceiling in the Western Conference.
Regardless of the incentive, the Clippers benefited greatly from tearing down the roster before NBA commissioner Adam Silver dropped the hammer. That said, just because there are signs of life doesn't mean this won't be an incredibly difficult hole to climb out of.
Blazers should now be targeting Keaton Wagler
Even with those future picks from the Raptors, the Clippers won't be able to successfully rebuild without more draft capital. That suddenly needs to become the top priority for this franchise to move forward -- even if it means trading Keaton Wagler.
A team that has been patiently stockpiling assets, like the Portland Trail Blazers, could make it worth their while as a huge step towards getting the franchise back on track.
That doesn't necessarily mean sacrificing all of those valuable Milwaukee Bucks picks the Blazers acquired in the Damian Lillard deal. But they do have more than enough draft capital between Milwaukee's, their own, and even a 2028 first via Orlando.
Plus, Portland has uncertain backcourt pieces that could be intriguing high-upside fliers for the Clippers: Scoot Henderson and (a currently injured) Shaedon Sharpe. If the Blazers are set on building a backcourt around Ja Morant as their point guard of the future, it could make sense to add more positional size and shooting in Wagler.
At the very least, it's worth seeing if this recent punishment has changed the Clippers' stance on Wagler at all. No team wants to trade their No. 5 overall pick, especially after losing five years of future draft picks. But that's precisely why it could be in the Clippers' best long-term interest to move on from Wagler, turning him into multiple young assets from a team like Portland to help soften the blow of a franchise-altering punishment.
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