Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard acquisition dealt brutal claim after NBA’s punishment

The Los Angeles Clippers were handed down some harsh punishments for their salary cap circumvention involving Kawhi Leonard. It may go down as one of the biggest punishments in sports, and for the Clippers, they have nothing good to show for all of the mess they got themselves into.

Rich Eisen even went out on a limb to say that Leonard coming to the Clippers was the worst acquisition in sports.

“His acquisition by the Los Angeles Clippers is now on the Mount Rushmore of the worst acquisitions in the history of professional sports,” Eisen said on his show. “I don’t even know what could compare to this. For him to come here, basically say I’m only coming here if you get me Paul George and then they do that, and the Oklahoma City Thunder use all of that capital and players to build what they have built in their conference.

“Kawhi Leonard. His acquisition by the Los Angeles Clippers is now on the Mount Rushmore of the worst acquisitions in the history of professional sports.”

– Rich Eisen

(via @RichEisenShow) pic.twitter.com/7rYBqB8DiE

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 3, 2026

“Part of bringing Kawhi there had a whole bunch of side deals, and you look at the amount of money it’s for. Chump change compared to everything else that’s going on right now. And look who’s the chump. Kawhi won’t care about being called a chump, but everyone else involved in this is left holding the bag.”

When Leonard was signed by the Clippers, there were high expectations surrounding the team, with the ultimate goal of them winning a championship. Throughout Leonard’s stint with the team, they were only able to get to the Western Conference Finals once and have no championships to show for it.

With all the hype surrounding the move, plus this recent investigation, there’s no surprise that people are actually saying that Leonard’s acquisition was the worst in sports.