Kawhi Leonard Was Traded to Toronto After the Clippers Owner Accepted a Thirty Million Dollar Fine and a Year's Suspension
A deal agreed in June and frozen in July was completed once Steve Ballmer chose to take the league's salary cap penalties rather than contest them.
Kawhi Leonard was traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Toronto Raptors on 14 September 2026, completing a deal first agreed in late June and paused on 9 July while the league investigated the Clippers over salary cap circumvention.
The Clippers received Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, second-round picks in 2030 and 2033, and swap rights on a 2027 first-round pick. Leonard is on an expiring contract worth 50.3 million dollars and is expected to seek an extension in Toronto.
The trade went through once the Clippers owner Steve Ballmer decided to accept the penalties announced by the league on 2 September rather than contest them in court. They comprise a 30 million dollar fine, the largest of its kind, the forfeiture of five first-round draft picks, a one-year suspension for Ballmer, a one-year suspension for the chief executive Gillian Zucker, a six-month suspension for the president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, and a 700,000 dollar fine for Leonard.
Ballmer apologised for the distraction and distress the matter had caused, and said he accepted responsibility as principal owner.
Leonard averaged a career-high 27.9 points a game across 65 appearances in the 2025-26 season. He won the championship and the Finals most valuable player award with Toronto in 2019, and his return places the Raptors among the contenders in the Eastern Conference alongside New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Detroit.