NBA fines Clippers $30m, suspends several executives in Kawhi Leonard probe

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has fined the Los Angeles Clippers $30m and stripped five first-round draft picks to punish the franchise for violating salary cap circumvention rules involving star forward Kawhi Leonard, who has been ordered to pay $700,000, the league said.The NBA’s investigation, conducted independently over the course of a year, “found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organisation, a prior offender of the salary cap circumvention rules”, the league said in a statement on Wednesday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Former NBA player Enes Kanter ejected after confrontation with WNBA’s Cloudlist 2 of 4James Harden agrees to three-year, $97m Cleveland Cavaliers deal: Reportlist 3 of 4Blockbuster $12.5bn deal as Kushner, Iger, purchase NBA Lakers franchiselist 4 of 4Triple-double king Russell Westbrook announces NBA retirementend of listThe heart of the issue was the team introducing Leonard to club sponsors for off-court income opportunities and endorsement agreements, offering the companies business from the team as inducements and paying personal expenses for Leonard and his representatives, am...