Clippers condemn NBA investigation as ‘witch hunt,’ vow to fight ‘gross injustice’

LOS ANGELES — The LA Clippers condemned an NBA investigation that concluded the franchise circumvented the league’s salary-cap rules to funnel millions to Kawhi Leonard, and vowed to fight the severe punishment handed down by the league Wednesday afternoon.

In a strongly worded letter addressed to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, attorney David Kelley of O’Melveny & Myers LLP claimed Clippers owner Steve Ballmer spent nearly $50 million to fund a “witch hunt” investigation that ultimately “stretched far beyond the bounds of what the league set out to investigate.”

The letter became public hours after the league released its investigation findings and announced the Clippers had been stripped of five first-round picks and fined $30 million. In addition, Ballmer was suspended one year for “knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities.”

“We vehemently reject the NBA’s findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence,” a Clippers statement read. “What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure its fairness and accuracy.”

In his letter to Silver, Kelley wrote that the league broke its promise to conduct an investigation guided by “due process” and “a fundamental sense of fairness.” He detailed that the Clippers produced more than 30,000 documents and provided over 20 witnesses who sat for 30 interviews, with business partners and sponsors also providing documents, interviews and statements.

“To say the investigation has been a distraction would be an understatement — Clippers employees have spent thousands of hours scouring document repositories, phones, messaging systems, central files, and accounting records, working with counsel, and sitting for interviews,” Kelley wrote. “This investigation has permanently strained relationships with key Clippers stakeholders.”

Kelley wrote that the NBA’s counsel acknowledged privately that the league did not believe the Clippers agreed to direct money to Leonard through a sponsorship deal with Aspiration, the California environmental company that previously served as the team’s jersey-patch partner.

“Nonetheless, with less than an hour’s warning, and no opportunity to respond, the league has issued a report and accompanying press release purporting to conclude the exact opposite of what it has said privately,” Kelley wrote.

Kelley wrote that Ballmer’s reputation was “irreparably damaged” by claims that first came to light in a “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast episode, and he will likely “spend years defending himself and the team against a podcaster’s baseless claims.”

Kelley’s letter came 16 days after the Clippers released a statement claiming the team did not circumvent the league’s salary-cap rules while acknowledging that they introduced Leonard and other players “to companies with which we had business relationships.”

Kelley wrote that the league raised questions about introductions “at the eleventh hour,” suggesting that “if the league spent $50 million investigating any team, it would find plenty of instances of team personnel making introductions to both sponsors and vendors in response to player requests.”

Kelley also accused the NBA of “harming third parties” that felt threatened if they did not participate in the investigation, which Kelley deemed “flawed from the outset.”

“This type of witch hunt flies in the face of fundamental fairness and of the integrity of the league and of this sport that we all love,” Kelley’s letter concluded. “We are exploring every legal remedy to address this gross injustice.”