While the NBA season is little more than a month away, opinions about the league’s biggest stories continue to surface. This week, the league handed down its punishments regarding the Kawhi Leonard/Los Angeles Clippers issue. First, Leonard would receive a $700,000 fine. The Clippers would forfeit five first-round draft picks.
Team owner Steve Ballmer will serve a one-year ban from all executive duties and team activities. Moreover, the league levied a $30 million fine.
Stephen A. Smith Calls for NBA to Ban Steve Ballmer Over Clippers Scandal
With the listing of the punishments, the ensuing opinion would be happy. One of the loudest voices in sports is ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. Smith isn’t known for holding back and offered a pointed opinion regarding the Clippers owner.
Without that first-round pick or their franchise player in Leonard, Ballmer will now need to spend a year away from his franchise. However, Smith wishes the banishment to last far longer based on poor judgement.
“Steve Balmer should be banned for stupidity. You did all of this for Kawhi Leonard?”@stephenasmith sounds off on the Clippers after the NBA announced their punishments 😳 pic.twitter.com/p8EpilPaws
— First Take (@FirstTake) September 3, 2026
Earlier in the clip, Smith did not mince words. When asked about timelines, he thinks the Clippers will be recovering for a while. The veteran commentator made his point clear.
“Let’s hope they don’t recover from this, for a while…. The fact of the matter is, a year suspension, he’s getting off light… You knowingly circumvented salary cap rules. Smith’s overarching issue with Ballmer is the effort he placed into Leonard, who he doesn’t consider as an elite NBA talent.
“Not talking about Steph Curry. Not talking about LeBron James. We’re talking about Kawhi Leonard. A man who’s missed 40% of his regular-season games, 30% of his postseason games.”
To his point, Smith makes sense. During his 14-year NBA career, Leonard has played at least 70 games just twice. More importantly, he’s missed more than 20 games eight times. On the other hand, the players that Smith mentioned displayed more durability.
For example, Curry pushed through the season as the Warriors enjoyed postseason success. James, who leads the NBA in all-time games played, doesn’t miss an inordinate amount of games despite his age.
Ballmer went all in on Leonard, and his investment did not pay off. The team never made the finals and suffered three consecutive first-round exits with Leonard as the franchise player. Leonard gets to join the Raptors. Ballmer must watch his team from afar, away from the arena. What the Clippers look like upon his return remains to be seen.
