Clippers 'frustrated' and 'upset' with Kawhi Leonard because NBA let him off with just a $700,000 fine?
· Yahoo Sports
Fullcourtpass: The Clippers are “frustrated, upset, and have resentment” towards Kawhi Leonard because the NBA let him off the hook with only a $700k fine, per @JakeLFischer The Miami Heat’s newest star just bought a place to lay his head.
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More on Kawhi Leonard: Recent HoopsHype Rumors
Jake Fischer: Prime among reasons why Kawhi Leonard's trade to Toronto has yet to be finalized: Sources tell @TheSteinLine and me the Clippers are still working through their new front office structure after NBA suspensions for Steve Ballmer, Lawrence Frank. — 9/8/2026 x.com
Jake Fischer: En route to tape today’s @BleacherReport stream at 5pm ET. Kawhi Leonard, sources say, is in Miami among an organized minicamp of Raptors players. Toronto is waiting for Los Angeles to move forward with the agreed-upon trade that Leonard and the Raptors expect to be completed. — 9/8/2026 x.com
Law Murray: ‘The Clippers have been selective about statements. I know because I've had to ask for more statements than I ever would want to ask for over the last just in the last month or so. And then again, the NBA is very selective about statements. The NBA has not been trying to do play-by-play on the progress of the process of this report. They were basically teased, oh, you wait. This will be, this we will explain why this statement is out. The NBA made it very clear why they put that statement out on Wednesday because that 35 pages, I will not say it's the most transparent 35 pages, but it's thorough. Not 100% thorough, but it's very thorough.’ — 9/7/2026 YouTube
Instead, on the latest episode of a podcast that continues to make NBA headlines, Green pivoted the conversation around the scandal to not just Leonard or the Clippers but the league’s salary cap itself. “I think that’s what comes out of this,” Green said. “Why is there a salary cap? Why are guys being prevented from making money from team sponsors or league sponsors, or whoever else? “We talk about, we’re in a league that is player-centric, that is player-focused, that is player-driven, that has the best benefits, best interest for the players. And here’s a situation where a guy can make 20 to 30 million extra dollars, and we’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re in trouble.’ I’m happy Kawhi didn’t get the bulk of this punishment. I think it’s absolutely beautiful.” — 9/6/2026 San Francisco Chronicle
Could Toronto try to turn the screws and ask LA to take less? Again, unlikely. NBA deals are made on trust, and word quickly spreads about those who try to squirm out of completed agreements. Additionally, the Raptors aren’t exactly operating from a position of strength either; the rest of the offseason is over, and they have no Plan B to pivot to for 2026-27 if they can’t complete the Leonard trade. — 9/5/2026 New York Times
John Hollinger: The Raptors initially pumped the brakes on this trade because of concerns over penalties Leonard might face as a result of this case — in particular, a lengthy suspension and/or the voiding of his contract. With those concerns out of the way, the trade can presumably go forward … as soon as the Clippers get around to figuring out who will okay it. With their owner suspended for a year and their president of basketball operations for six months, it will fall on other parties within the organization to get this deal to the finish line. Could the Clippers decide to unwind this deal? Highly unlikely. The Clippers are getting two first-round picks, a second-round pick and a first-round swap from Toronto, assets LA desperately needs now that it just forfeited a half-decade worth of first-round picks. The Clips also aren’t winning anything notable in the near future, and the original Leonard trade agreement was an admission of that. Finally, Leonard is in the final year of his deal in LA, and his trade value would die on the vine if the Clippers kept him. Meanwhile, he has a juicy extension waiting for him in Toronto once the deal consummates. — 9/5/2026 New York Times
Draymond Green: "I'm happy the team got the bulk of the penalty and not Kawhi. We heard a lot that Kawhi may be suspended and I'm happy he didn't get suspended. And like I said, address the issues of the salary cap. I think that's what comes out of this. Why is there a salary cap? Why are guys being prevented from making money from team sponsors or league sponsors or whoever else? And we talk about we're in a league that is player-centric, that is player-focused, that is player-driven, that has the best interest for the players. And here was a situation where a guy can make 20 to 30 extra million dollars and we're like, oh yeah, you're in trouble. I'm happy Kawhi didn't get the bulk of this punishment. I think that is absolutely beautiful." — 9/5/2026 YouTube
Shams Charania: "At the crux of this is the introductions that the NBA found that rose to the level of not just normal introductions that teams make. Teams in the NBA are allowed to make introductions to their players and sponsors. Any individual player, likely 60 to 70 percent of their sponsors are coming directly with the team sponsors just because it's in-house. Well, you can introduce a player, like the Clippers could have introduced Kawhi Leonard to Daktronics or any of these other four companies that they've been found to basically brokering these deals. The issue here is that there is proof at least on one occasion, Gillian Zucker, the president of business, who got suspended for a full year, well she, according to the NBA's findings, negotiated a deal in the millions with a company and a middleman, the middle agent, for Kawhi Leonard on behalf of Kawhi Leonard before it even reached the point of an introduction." — 9/4/2026 YouTube
Pablo Torre: If you’ve been following our (ongoing) investigation into the Clippers and Steve Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard, you know we’ve been waiting for this day for a year. We published Part I on September 3rd, 2025. This, Part 15, we streamed, live, last night — on September 2nd, 2026 — roughly 90 minutes after the NBA announced its punishment and the league’s outside counsel, Wachtell Lipton, dropped a detailed 35-page report. Accountability for the wealthiest people on Earth is hard to come by. Thank you for believing in the power of independent reporting to accomplish it. (And, yes, more to come.) — 9/4/2026 Pablo Torre Finds Out
"I think it could have been worse," an anonymous NBA player told Yahoo Sports. "Seven hundred-thousand dollars probably ain't nothing to [Leonard], so he can just pay it and get back to playing. He didn't get suspended or anything. Be careful. Watch what you got going on." "They gave a ruling that made it seem like [the circumvention offense] wasn't right, but also they didn't try to kill them all the way — to me," an assistant coach said. "This is going to put everybody on notice to take that seriously. Glad something was done to help level the playing field a little bit." — 9/4/2026 Yahoo! Sports
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Clippers 'frustrated' and 'upset' with Kawhi Leonard because NBA let him off with just a $700,000 fine?
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