How Does the Kawhi Leonard Punishment Impact the Clippers In the 2026-27 Season?

With a month and a half before the start of the 2026-27 season, the Los Angeles Clippers were dealt one of the worst pieces of news a franchise can receive. The NBA brought down the hammer after a year-long investigation into cap circumvention allegations and stripped away five future first-round picks from the Clippers.

The long-term implications for this punishment are clear. The team will find it very difficult to build a sustainable winner with no draft capital. It will have limited resources to trade for a difference-maker and will not have much of an appeal in free agency.

But what are the short-term consequences? How does this impact the 2026-27 campaign for the Clippers?

The Clippers were already not expected to make the playoffs. The expectation for their win total on most betting markets was around 29. This will likely not change right away.

If the Clippers start the season with this current core, they should be right around the 30-win mark. The difference now is that they are less likely to finish the season with the current roster.

More Personnel Changes Should Be Expected in LA

Before this punishment, the Clippers had little reason to sell off and bottom out. The OKC Thunder have swap rights to LA's 2027 first-round pick. This means that the Clippers had no incentive to lose and maximize their lottery odds.

While that's still true, the Clippers should now feel more pressure to add future draft capital. The Clippers will lose five first-round picks between 2029 and 2033. They will have a total of four first-round picks over the next seven years. And none of them are under their own control, so how good any of them will be is unclear.

Moreover, the Clippers can't trade any of these picks because of the Stepien rule that stipulates that teams have to have one first-round pick in back-to-back drafts. The Clippers also have just one real second-round pick until the 2030 NBA Draft, which severely limits their flexibility and optionality.

This means that the Clippers will have to explore trades to add draft picks. Especially if it becomes clear that the team is not going to be in the playoff chase, it will be hard to justify keeping the veterans with trade value on the team.

So, we could see a lot of activity from the Clippers around the trade deadline. There could be talent going out the door, with the most likely candidates being Kris Dunn, Derrick Jones Jr., Max Strus, and Brook Lopez.

If Darius Garland and Brandon Ingram are looking healthy and productive, there should be teams interested in their services. It would make a lot of sense for the Clippers to try to get a couple of first-round picks for their All-Stars.

This talent drain will send the Clippers further down the Western Conference standings. The Clippers' roster could look drastically different at the end of the season than it does at the start.

Keaton Wagler will be the player to watch. The future of the franchise now hinges on Wagler's potential rise to stardom. This could mean that the 2026-27 season will be more about Wagler's development than anything else. So, the 19-year-old guard could feature more than initially thought, especially if the Clippers pivot at the trade deadline.

Nothing should be ruled out. How Steve Ballmer, Lawrence Frank, and Ty Lue will react to this remains to be seen, but the more likely scenario is that the Clippers pivot, bottom out, and try to rebuild using the assets they get in these trades involving their veterans.

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