The NBA announced severe punishments against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday for violating salary cap circumvention rules, including suspending owner Steve Ballmer for one year, fining the team $30 million and forcing the organization to forfeit five first-round draft picks.
The Clippers are the latest team to be hit with harsh penalties. Here is a look at some other notable punishments that teams, owners, executives and coaches have been dealt for skirting league rules:
— In 2020, Astros manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow and Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora lost their jobs over Houston's illicit use of electronics to steal signs en route to a 2017 World Series championship. Hinch and Luhnow were suspended for one year by MLB and subsequently fired by the Astros, and Boston let go of Cora — Houston's bench coach in 2017 — before MLB issued a similar one-year ban. Houston was also fined $5 million and forfeit two first- and second-round draft picks.
— In a 2007 scandal referred to as “Spygate,” the Patriots were caught videotaping opposing team signals. The Patriots lost a 2007 first-round draft pick and were fined $250,000. Coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000.
— In 2015, the Patriots were fined $1 million and docked two draft picks for “Deflategate,” and quarterback Tom Brady was suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season. The Patriots were found to have improperly deflated footballs used in games.
— In 2000, the Timberwolves were penalized for circumventing the NBA salary cap in a deal involving Joe Smith. The leagued fined Minnesota $3.5 million, stripped them of five first-round draft picks (after appeals, the T'Wolves got two of those back). The league suspended Minnesota owner Glen Taylor and general manager Kevin McHale for one year without pay. Joe Smith’s contract was voided and he became a free agent.
— In 2021, the NFL fined the Commanders $10 million and owner Dan Snyder was forced to step away from day-to-day operations for several months after an independent investigation found the organization’s workplace “highly unprofessional,” especially for women. The league's investigation revealed that ownership and senior officials paid little attention to sexual harassment and other workplace issues. The punishment came before the team was named the Commanders and instead was called the Washington Football Team.
— In 2007, the World Motor Sport Council fined McLaren Mercedes $100 million and stripped the Formula One team of all 2007 constructors’ championship points after it was accused of using leaked secret data from rival Ferrari.
See AP’s full NBA coverage here
FILE - Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer sits on the sideline before an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls on March 13, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun, File)
FILE - New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick looks on during the second half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Oct. 8, 2023, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
A man convicted over a “Texas Killing Fields” death was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday in a rare trial related to the bodies of dozens of women found near Houston beginning in the 1970s.
James Dolphs Elmore Jr. was given the maximum sentence by a jury in Galveston County a day after they found him guilty of manslaughter in the death of 16-year-old Laura Miller. Elmore, 61, was arrested earlier this year and accused of preparing the dose of cocaine that killed Miller. Her body was found in the infamous area in 1986.
Investigators believe multiple people may be responsible for the deaths of more than 30 girls and young women, whose bodies were found in a stretch of land along Interstate 45 southeast of Houston. The “Texas Killing Fields” have inspired books, movies and a Netflix documentary.
Miller was one of four young women whose bodies were found between 1984 and 1991 in a rural field off a desolate dirt road in League City, located about 28 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of Houston.
Elmore was accused in an indictment of preparing a vial of cocaine that was administered to Miller by Clyde Hedrick, who authorities have alleged was the person responsible for the deaths of the four women and had been Elmore’s longtime friend. The district attorney’s office said in March that they had decided to seek grand jury indictments against Hedrick in the deaths, but the 72-year-old Hedrick died by suicide before the grand jury presentation.
Hedrick was convicted of manslaughter in 2014 in the death of Ellen Beason, a young woman whose body was found in 1985 after going missing the previous years. He was released in 2022 and was still on parole at the time of his death, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
After Laura Miller's death, her father, Tim Miller, founded Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit that helps look for missing people.
Most of the deaths associated with the “Texas Killing Fields” remain unsolved.
In 2022, William Reece, an Oklahoma death row inmate, pleaded guilty to three murders in Texas, including those of 12-year-old Laura Smither and 17-year-old Jessica Cain in Galveston County, and 20-year-old Kelli Cox, who was from Denton in North Texas but whose body was found hundreds of miles away in Brazoria County, located next to Galveston County. He received life sentences for all three murders.
Tim Miller, father of Laura Miller, speaks outside of the courtroom after James Dolphs Elmore Jr. was found guilty of manslaughter in Galveston, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (Stuart Villanueva/The Galveston County Daily News via AP, Pool)
Surrounded by friends and family, Tim Miller, father of Laura Miller, reacts after James Dolphs Elmore Jr. was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Laura Miller, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, in Galveston, Texas. (Stuart Villanueva/The Galveston County Daily News via AP, Pool)
Tim Miller, father of Laura Miller, embraces Galveston County Chief Assistant District Attorney Kate Willis, as James Dolphs Elmore Jr., far left, walks in handcuffs from the courtroom after he was found guilty of manslaughter in Galveston, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (Stuart Villanueva/The Galveston County Daily News via AP, Pool)
Defendant James Dolphs Elmore Jr., right, sits with his attorney, William Agnew, while listening to witness testimony during his trial in Galveston, Texas, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Stuart Villanueva/The Galveston County Daily News via AP, Pool)
FILE - Tim Miller, director of Texas EquuSearch and whose daughter, Laura Miller, went missing in 1984, and her body was found in 1986, listens to a reporter's question during a news conference, Aug. 8, 2021, in Houston. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)
FILE - Jan Miller holds a photo of her daughter, Laura Miller, who was killed and her body found in a League City field in 1986, Oct. 18, 2011, in Texas City, Texas. (Jennifer Reynolds/The Galveston County Daily News via AP, File)
FILE - A member of Texas EquuSearch hugs Tim Miller, the group's founder whose daughter, Laura, was killed and her body found in a League City field in 1986, outside the Galveston County Courthouse in downtown Galveston, Texas, April 1, 2026. (Jennifer Reynolds /The Galveston County Daily News via AP, File)
