“Should Be Banned for Stupidity”: Stephen A. Smith Slams Clippers Owner Steve Ballmer on National TV

Pablo Torre’s release of internal Clippers marketing emails gave the league’s yearlong Kawhi Leonard investigation its most concrete piece of evidence yet. That evidence, it turned out, was closer to the finish line than anyone realized, as the NBA has now handed down its ruling, and Stephen A. Smith isn’t holding back on what he thinks of it.

The NBA concluded its investigation into the Clippers’ handling of Kawhi Leonard’s compensation. It issued what may be among the harshest penalties ever levied against a major American professional sports franchise.

Los Angeles was fined $30 million and stripped of five future first-round draft picks. Owner Steve Ballmer was suspended for a full year from all NBA-related activities, alongside president of business operations Gillian Zucker, who was also suspended for a year without pay, and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, who was suspended for six months without pay.

Leonard himself avoided suspension entirely but was ordered to pay the league $700,000. His uncle and former business manager, Dennis Robertson, was banned from all NBA-related business dealings for five years.

Reacting to the report, Smith argued that the entire scandal was hard to comprehend, given who it was built around.

"Number one, let's hope that they don't recover from this for a while," Smith said on First Take. "Steve Ballmer is lucky he hasn't been banned and he's not being forced to sell the team, if this is true and it appears that it is. He's lucky because the fact of the matter is a year suspension, he's getting off light."

"But it comes down to Ballmer. The buck stops with him," he continued. "The Clippers, Steve Ballmer should be banned for stupidity. You did all of this for Kawhi Leonard? Him?"

Smith’s reaction wasn’t sudden. He’d been escalating his position since Torre’s Daktronics reporting first broke, at one point talking about suspensions for both Ballmer and Leonard on First Take weeks before the league’s ruling came down.

“If it’s true, we’re talking about banishment for Steve Ballmer as far as I’m concerned for at least a year. It should be entertained that Kawhi Leonard should be banned for a year,” Smith said at the time, reacting to Torre’s claim that Leonard’s Daktronics arrangement was “1,000% a way to circumvent the salary cap.”

What Happens Next for the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard

With the league’s punishment now finalized, the long-delayed trade sending Leonard to the Toronto Raptors is believed to be clear to proceed. It brings an end to a saga that froze the deal in place.

What remains far less settled is the Clippers’ path forward. They're down five future first-round picks, missing three key figures from the organization’s leadership for months, and facing a $30 million fine, all for a stretch of Leonard’s tenure that produced just one conference finals appearance and zero playoff series wins since 2021.

As Smith put it bluntly, closing his monologue: “I can make a legitimate argument that Kawhi Leonard is the worst superstar in the history of any sport.”