The NBA Drops the Hammer on Steve Ballmer and the Clippers (and How the Lakers Dodged That Bullet)

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers · Sep 4, 2026 · 39m

There were people, very likely including Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, who didn't think Adam Silver had the stones to do it. Those people were wrong.

The NBA on Wednesday dropped the hammer on the LA Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer, stripping five first round picks from the team, fining Ballmer $30 million and suspending him for a year, and handing down other suspensions to team executives. Uncle Dennis (i.e. Dennis Robertson) was banned for five years from NBA activity.

Only Kawhi Leonard got off basically unpunished by the league (a $750K fine, but in the grand scheme of things that…