Good morning! The biggest story in sports broke in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon, and it is ours. The NBA came down on the Clippers with penalties no franchise has ever absorbed — five first-round picks, a $30 million fine, a suspended owner, two suspended executives and five years of monitoring. It was the main topic on The Sporting Tribune Today. Elsewhere: Arte Moreno sold the Angels for a reported $4 billion, the Dodgers lost a second straight at home, and San Diego’s top prospect debuted in Cincinnati. Let’s get into it.
🚨 HEADLINES
🏀 Unprecedented. Five first-rounders, $30 million, a one-year ban for Ballmer — Grant Mona in Los Angeles.
💰 Sold. Moreno’s 23-year run ends in a reported $4 billion sale to Stan Kroenke — Jack Janes at Angel Stadium.
⚾ Another one away. A late-inning meltdown turned a winnable game into an 8-6 loss — Fredo Cervantes at Dodger Stadium.
⚾ Salas arrives. San Diego’s top prospect debuted at Great American Ball Park — Eric Evelhoch in Cincinnati.
🏀 A clean sweep. A’ja Wilson’s fourth Player of the Month award of the season — Arion Armeniakos in Las Vegas.
🏈 Logical all along. Why Cousins was always the Raiders’ Week 1 starter — Steve Carp in Las Vegas.
See what else is trending at The Sporting Tribune.
📋 SCOREBOARD — WEDNESDAY
⚾ MLB: Cardinals 8, Dodgers 6 · Yankees 6, Angels 3
🏀 THE HARSHEST PENALTY THE NBA HAS EVER ISSUED
An independent investigation by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz concluded that the Clippers ran a pattern of misconduct designed to circumvent the salary cap. On Wednesday the NBA answered it.
The penalties:
› Five consecutive first-round draft picks forfeited — 2029 through 2033
› A $30 million fine
› Steve Ballmer suspended one year from all league and team activities
› Gillian Zucker, president of business operations, suspended one year without pay
› Lawrence Frank, president of basketball operations, suspended six months without pay
› A five-year compliance and monitoring program
› Kawhi Leonard ordered to pay the league $700,000
› Dennis Robertson, Leonard’s former business manager, banned five years from doing business with NBA teams
The mechanism, according to investigators, was endorsement money. The Clippers steered business to four companies — Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics and Lockton Insurance — and encouraged them to sign Leonard to endorsement deals in return. The team also paid personal expenses for Leonard and his representatives, and failed to report improper requests for additional income made on his behalf by Robertson.
Ballmer’s suspension rests on a specific finding: that he approved a business agreement he knew was a prerequisite for Aspiration to enter an endorsement deal with Leonard. Zucker was found “primarily and directly responsible” for the arrangements — and, the league said, gave investigators false and misleading statements.
The NBA also noted that the Clippers are a prior offender on salary-cap circumvention.
“I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers’ institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct,” Adam Silver said. “The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations.”
Leonard, through new agent Harrison Gaines, accepted responsibility for his circle without conceding he knew what was happening. “I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle,” he said, adding that he signed his contract and the endorsements in good faith.
He also confirmed where he is going. “As I return to Toronto, I am focused on what I can control, closing this chapter, and moving forward with a clean slate.”
The league and the players’ association agreed the penalties are final and binding. Wachtell Lipton is still receiving information, and the NBA left the door open to more discipline.
For a franchise that opened Intuit Dome two years ago and is already rebuilding without Leonard, losing five straight first-round picks is the part that lasts. It reaches into the next decade.
GO DEEPER
› Grant Mona: NBA strips Clippers of five first-round picks, issues $30 million fine, suspends Steve Ballmer one year (The Sporting Tribune)
💰 “YOUR DAY’S GOING TO CHANGE”
John Mozeliak found out the way everyone else did. “I was sitting in my office quietly,” the Angels’ interim general manager told Jack Janes. “And Molly came in and dropped a folder on my desk and said, ‘Your day’s going to change.’ And she was right.”
Arte Moreno has sold a majority stake to Stan Kroenke after 23 years. The Los Angeles Times’ Bill Shaikin reported the price exceeds the $3.9 billion the Padres brought nine days ago, which would make it the largest sale in the history of the sport — a record that stood less than two weeks.
Janes was in the clubhouse afterward, which is what separates his piece.
“Just a fresh start,” Mike Trout said. “It was needed, no hard feelings against Arte. But I’m super excited. There’s a good vibe around the clubhouse, vibe around the stadium.”
Trout is 35 with four years left, and has spent a decade deflecting questions about asking out. Tuesday didn’t move him. “No, it doesn’t change. I got four years left. The track record, it’s there.”
That track record: a Super Bowl and a Stanley Cup in 2022, an NBA title in 2023, a Premier League crown at Arsenal. Zach Neto had done the homework — “He’s won championships with all the teams he owns” — and said he and Trout texted a Rams player, whom they declined to name, to ask what Kroenke is like.
The backdrop is grim. The Angels are on pace for the first 100-loss season in franchise history, a 12th straight year out of the playoffs. Fans have protested outside the stadium all summer.
“He’s aware of the chants,” team president Molly Jolly said. “He knows about them.”
Nothing changes operationally until the sale closes in the first quarter of 2027.
GO DEEPER
› Jack Janes: Arte Moreno sells majority ownership of Angels to Stan Kroenke (The Sporting Tribune)
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⚾ TWO IN A ROW AT HOME
The Dodgers came home needing a week and have not had one. Wednesday was an 8-6 loss to St. Louis that Fredo Cervantes describes as another winnable game surrendered late — the second straight, after Tuesday’s 13-8.
There were signs of life: three stolen bases, from Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker, and six runs. It wasn’t enough, and the bullpen is the story two nights running. The Cardinals close the series tonight.
GO DEEPER
› Fredo Cervantes: Dodgers’ late-inning meltdown turns another winnable game into loss (The Sporting Tribune)
🍔 THE DEALS BOARD
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🥤 Mountain Dew — free 20-oz Baja Blast. Two homers cleared 420 feet Wednesday, the longer Justin Foscue’s 424-footer in Arlington. Wallet pass at OTC Network stores.
Dark today: Panda Express, El Portal, Con Azúcar and Sunright all need a Dodgers win, and there hasn’t been one at home since Aug. 23. The McDonald’s Angels deal needed a win over New York. Firehouse Subs resets Friday.
⚾ THE CATCHER ARRIVES
Ethan Salas, the most talked-about prospect in the San Diego system, made his major league debut Wednesday at Great American Ball Park, with Eric Evelhoch there for it. The timing matters: the Padres are holding the last National League wild card by a thread, so Salas arrives in a pennant race rather than at the end of a lost season.
GO DEEPER
› Eric Evelhoch: Padres top prospect Ethan Salas makes Majors debut at Cincinnati (The Sporting Tribune)
⚡ QUICK HITS
🏀 A month that wasn’t close. A’ja Wilson took Western Conference Player of the Month for a fourth time — Arion Armeniakos.
🏈 Cousins, all along. Steve Carp argues the Raiders’ quarterback call was never really a call — Steve Carp, with Derek Hegna on the rest of the Week 1 storylines.
⚾ Postseason in Ontario. The Tower Buzzers are in — Ernesto Madrigal-Rodriguez at ONT Field.
📺 WATCHLIST — THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3
⚾ MLB: Cardinals at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium — 7:10 p.m. — SNLA
The Angels are off; they open at Pittsburgh on Friday at 3:45 p.m.
Coming up: The Rams face San Francisco in Melbourne on Sept. 10, one week from today.
🎟️ GOING TO A GAME?
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⚾ Cardinals at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium — $33
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⚽ Earthquakes at San Diego FC — Snapdragon Stadium (Sept. 9) — $19
🌴 TST TRIVIA
The NBA fined the Clippers $30 million and took five first-round picks. How much was Kawhi Leonard personally ordered to pay the league?
Answer at the bottom.
🎧 THE SPORTING TRIBUNE TODAY
The Sporting Tribune Today airs weekdays at 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. ET on SportsGrid, hosted by Grant Mona and John Browner and built on reporting from our staff across Southern California, Las Vegas and Hawai’i. Our stories, photos and columns also run on SportsGrid’s website and app.
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Wednesday’s show led with the Clippers ruling — the picks, the fine, the suspensions and what five lost first-rounders do to a franchise already rebuilding. Today: the fallout, a $4 billion sale in Anaheim, and two straight losses at Chavez Ravine.
› Listen to the latest episode
Trivia answer: $700,000.
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