The decision by NBA commissioner Adam Silver to take five future first-round draft picks from the Los Angeles Clippers for circumventing the salary cap to help funnel additional income to Kawhi Leonard was obviously the most damaging element of the punishment doled out by the league.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer can stomach a $30 million fine. Teams also rountinely weather executive exits or suspensions. Losing half a decade’s worth of draft picks?
The Clippers now have decidedly fewer roster-shaping tools when they appeared ready to take a longer-term approach and build through the draft. The five first-rounders the NBA is taking from them cover the five drafts from 2029-2033. In 2029, the Clippers have their own pick and the Pacers’ pick from the Ivica Zubac trade last season. The NBA is taking the Pacers pick, which will not be returned to Indiana.
And yet as harsh as the punishment is, the Clippers aren’t completely bereft of assets. If their trade to send Leonard to the Toronto Raptors is completed, the Clippers will acquire the Raptors’ 2031 and 2033 first-round picks, in addition to a 2027 pick swap.
Here’s what the Clippers’ future first-round draft assets look like for the next seven years, contingent on the Toronto trade happening in its current form:
-
2027: Thunder have option of swapping their first-round pick or Denver Nuggets’ top-five protected pick with Clippers’ first-rounder; Clippers then have the right to swap what pick they receive with the Toronto Raptors*
-
2029: own if lands in Nos. 1-3; if it lands in Nos. 4-30, the Philadelphia 76ers can swap their own first-round pick with the Clippers’
Having to swap picks in 2027 and ’29 with the Thunder and 76ers, respectively, isn’t ideal — but it also isn’t nothing, especially with the new lottery reforms dissuading teams from completely bottoming out.
Read the full article here