Clippers slam NBA probe as 'witch hunt,' vow to explore 'every legal remedy to address this gross injustice'

The NBA dropped the hammer on the Los Angeles Clippers and team owner Steve Ballmer on Wednesday, and the Clippers are vowing to fight back.

The league released the long-awaited results of its investigation into allegations that the Clippers circumvented the NBA's salary cap in its dealings with All-Star Kawhi Leonard and multiple third-party vendors.

The league concluded that the Clippers and Leonard did circumvent the salary cap and handed down discipline to multiple parties. Among the disciplinary actions, the NBA stripped the Clippers of five first-round draft picks, fined Ballmer $30 million and issued Ballmer a one-year ban "from all league and team activities."

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Leonard was fined $700,000 for what the league determined was his role in the scandal.

For the discipline of Ballmer and the Clippers, the team issued two impassioned statements Wednesday in defiance of the NBA's findings and its disciplinary measures.

Clippers reject 'heavily biased investigation'

The first, unsigned, "vehemently" rejected the league's findings, which the team vowed to "rigorously challenge."

"We vehemently reject the NBA's findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence," the statement reads. "What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure its fairness and accuracy.

"For the past year, we cooperated fully and in good faith and we will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence. We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process."

Clippers: NBA probe was a 'witch hunt'

Also Wednesday, the team issued a letter addressed to NBA commissioner Adam Silver detailing its issues with the league's investigation, which it called a "witch hunt."

The letter signed by Clippers attorney David N. Kelley slammed the scope of the investigation and repeatedly belittled the source that sparked the probe, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by the "Pablo Torre Finds Out" podcast.

The letter was not signed by Ballmer, who has not issued a personal response to the league's discipline. But it certainly represented him while claiming that Ballmer "spent nearly $50 million" to fund the probe that was run by independent law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. It stated that Ballmer "reimbursed the costs of at least six law firms, many of which were hired at the demands of the league's lawyers."

The letter contends that the investigation has "permanently strained relationships with key Clippers stakeholders" and that "Mr. Ballmer's reputation has been irreparably damaged" in this "heavily biased investigation." It goes on to slam the "podcaster's baseless claims."

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Clippers vow to fight 'gross injustice'

The letter reiterated the Clippers' contention that the NBA told them one thing about the investigation in private before producing an entirely different conclusion via the investigation and league announcement issued Wednesday.

"League counsel has acknowledged in our discussions that the league does not believe there was an agreement between the Clippers and Aspiration to funnel money to Kawhi Leonard," the letter reads. "… Nonetheless, with less than an hour's warning, and no opportunity to respond, the league has issued a report and accompanying press release purporting to conclude the exact opposite of what it has said privately."

The letter maintains the Clippers' contention that they did nothing wrong in introducing Leonard to team vendors, which the league says acted as third-party funnels to send tens of millions of dollars to Leonard from the Clippers in circumvention of the salary cap.

The letter concludes with a vow to fight the findings of the investigation and the resulting discipline:

"This investigation has been flawed from the outset. And your decision to issue this report without any notice to the Clippers or their counsel is inexcusable.

"This type of witch hunt flies in the face of fundamental fairness and the integrity of the league and of this sport that we all love. We are exploring every legal remedy to address this gross injustice."

What are the Clippers' options?

The Clippers' avenues to fight the findings might be limited. In announcing its findings, the league stated that the discipline had been agreed upon with the players’ union and is "final and binding on all parties."

A source told NBA insider Marc Stein that the Clippers have no route within NBA bylaws to contest the investigations or discipline and will have to seek other legal avenues.

Do the Clippers have a case?

In its findings, the league states that it has evidence that the Clippers facilitated third-party deals between Leonard and their vendors and "induced the companies to enter into these agreements by offering them business from the team."

Citing email exchanges involving executives from a vendor working with the Clippers, the 36-page report by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz goes into detail of how those dealings allegedly went down.

Per the report, Joseph Sanberg, the co-founder of Aspiration and now a convicted felon on fraud charges, approached Aspiration executives about a four-year, $48 million endorsement deal for Leonard. Aspiration is a now-defunct third-party vendor that was at the heart of the league's probe.

When those executives scoffed at the proposed Leonard deal as financially irresponsible, Sanberg responded thusly, per the report:

When these concerns were conveyed to Mr. Sanberg, he told the Aspiration executives that "the Clippers are asking us to do this with Kawhi Leonard" and that the team would provide additional business back to Aspiration to help offset the financial impact on Aspiration.

In an email exchange among Aspiration's CEO, CFO, and general counsel, one wrote, "[Mr. Sanberg said] that the Clippers are promising to increase the amount they pay us per quarter in line with what we pay this guy [i.e., Mr. Leonard]." Another responded: "Thanks for verifying. . . . We should be fine if it's cashflow neutral."

What's next for the Clippers isn't clear. But it’s evident that this saga is not over.