Clippers may have ways to soften historic NBA punishment

The Clippers just lost five first-round draft picks. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll ultimately be without all five.

There may even be a way to replace a couple rather quickly.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst noted Wednesday that nothing in the NBA’s ruling appears to prevent the Clippers from trading Kawhi Leonard, who could potentially bring back two first-round picks.

“If they are indeed allowed to trade Kawhi Leonard (to the Raptors), and there’s nothing in today’s ruling that would prevent them from doing so, they can instantaneously recruit two first-round draft picks for him,” Windhorst said on ESPN.

There’s also some history worth remembering. When the Timberwolves were stripped of five first-rounders in the Joe Smith salary-cap circumvention case in 2000, the NBA eventually returned two of them.

Windhorst noted that Minnesota cooperated with the league, something that could become particularly relevant given the Clippers’ angry response to Wednesday’s ruling.

Los Angeles has called the investigation biased and vowed to fight the penalties. ESPN’s Shams Charania reports there is no formal NBA appeal or arbitration process available to the Clippers, leaving court as their only avenue to challenge the ruling.

Perhaps cooperation eventually would serve them better.

Then again, Windhorst offered another reason the Clippers might want to tread carefully.

“In this report, the investigators indicate that they are not done and that there could be more,” he said.

So the Clippers’ punishment may eventually get better. Or, as Windhorst put it, it “could be worse.”

Given everything that happened Wednesday, that’s probably worth keeping in mind.