By: Matt Grace

In the NBA, many scandals have made headlines. The most recent one is an absolute bombshell. Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers have been in the news because of their latest scandal. The 15-year NBA veteran was given a $700,000 fine, along with his business partner being fully banned from doing business in the NBA, and according to league sources, he was accused of breaking the salary cap rules while also receiving “secret off-court endorsement deals.” This breaking news was opened up last year by Pablo Torre when he was researching public bankruptcy records; he discovered a mystery creditor to the LA Clippers and Kawhi Leonard.

The worst blow comes not to Leonard himself but to the Clippers Front Office, including owner Steve Ballmer. The Microsoft Guru and multi-billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Clippers received a one-year suspension from the NBA along with a very hefty $30 million fine, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. But that is not it. President of Business Operations, Gillian Zucker, was also given a one-year suspension, but he will not be paid in his year away from the sport. Also, President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank also received a 6-month suspension from the NBA, and during that time he will not be paid either. Adam Silver was not done after that; while the Clippers were planning to enter a full rebuild, the NBA stripped the Clippers of their next 5 future 1st-round picks in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033. Completely stripping away the potential future of the Los Angeles Clippers, they will need to try to find success with their new backcourt point guard Darius Garland and soon-to-be rookie Guard Keaton Wagler until 2033.

Kawhi Leonard was also fined $700,000, but according to ESPN, Kawhi Leonard had no idea that this was actually happening, as his Uncle, and business partner was doing all the dirty work behind the scenes, supposedly not letting Kawhi know or giving Kawhi the knowledge of what he was doing to make him money. Kawhi will be able to leave this in the past, for as of yesterday evening, he was traded back to the Toronto Raptors, where he had the best year of his career with them in 2018-2019. He did most of his work in the postseason, averaging an astonishing 30.5 PPG on 9.1 RPG, while also averaging around 4 assists a night as well. Kawhi Leonard has the opportunity to leave his Clippers woes in the past with the Raptors, but the Clippers have to live with this mistake for a while.

This is just one of many of the scandals that have reached the public regarding the NBA. As of just last year, multiple players and coach Chauncey Billups were put on leave from the league as a major probe into gambling came out. Players such as Malik Beasley and Terry Rozier were involved in the NBA’s and FBI’s investigation into gambling. The worst came to former player and former coach Damon Jones. According to PBS, Damon Jones pleaded guilty in 2026 to federal charges of wire fraud conspiracy involving sports betting and rigged high-stakes poker games. According to ESPN, Jones admitted to leaking nonpublic player injury information—specifically regarding stars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis—to help gamblers place fraudulent bets between December 2022 and March 2024. The NBA has been littered with scandals for multiple years, and it does not seem like it is going to come to an end anytime soon, as there has been a new scandal everywhere for the past few years.

This isn’t the only huge NBA scandal that involves gambling, as the biggest scandal involves Jontay Porter, who was a bench player for the Toronto Raptors at the time; he would sabotage games if he was in to help himself with parlays he would place, and also he would give his friends info on what to bet, and he would go out of his way to make sure this would all happen. On January 26th, 2024, Jontay Porter would lie to Toronto, saying his eye was hurting and he could not continue playing in the game. According to CBS Sports, Jontay Porter sent this text: “Hit unders for the big numbers. I told [Co-Conspirator] no blocks, no steals. I’m going to play first 2-3 minute stint off the bench then when I get subbed out tell them my eye killing me again.” Jontay Porter would do this multiple times, telling his team he was sick multiple times to make sure his unders would hit. He would receive a lifetime ban from the NBA for his actions; he was also denied a work leave from a judge to play basketball overseas in Greece. Jontay Porter took a risk, and it ended his career, but this is just another recent example of scandals putting a stain on the reputation of the NBA.

My Opinion On This?

I think the NBA has a lot of work to do when it comes to major controversies. As I said earlier, I just believe that there is so much work to do. There is so much money in the NBA, as basketball is not just a sport with traction in the United States; it is unbelievably popular in other countries around the world. The NBA and Basketball are huge in most of Europe, but most of its popularity comes from China. That generates the NBA a ton of money, as in the offseason they send multiple players out to China, which generates them a ton of money, and with money there is corruption. I do not know if Adam Silver can stop all the controversy, but I know he is making punishments way heavier to try and help and stop all of this from happening.

Do I think it will stop? No, probably not. Like I said earlier, there is just so much money in sports, especially the NBA, so I think it will just keep going. It is a stain on the sport, but unfortunately nothing is perfect, and the NBA is a great example of that. It will also maybe help the NBA, as well as these stories that hit the Pop Culture world will give the sport more publicity, not saying it needs more, but no one can deny how it can help as well. The NBA is easily one of the most popular sports in the world, but with all the popularity, money, and fame, there will always be a level of corruption too.

Matt Grace is a senior at Holy Family University graduating in the spring, majoring in English with a minor in Creative Writing, with plans on being a public school high school teacher when he graduates. He is a massive Philadelphia Sports fan as well as an Ella Langley fan.