The NBA stripped the LA Clippers of five first-round draft picks — one each in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033 — as part of penalties tied to salary-cap circumvention involving Kawhi Leonard. From a team-building perspective, the loss of those selections is the most damaging element of the league’s discipline.
There is only one comparable punishment in NBA history: the Minnesota Timberwolves forfeited five first-round picks in 2000 after the league found an illegal agreement with free agent big man Joe Smith. Then-commissioner David Stern later returned two of those first-round selections.
The Timberwolves’ trajectory before and after the sanctions illustrates how draft restrictions can shape a franchise. After drafting Kevin Garnett at No. 5 in 1995, Minnesota rose from 21 wins in 1994-95 to 50 wins by 1999-2000. The team then lost its first-round picks from 2001 through 2005, and its win totals stalled: 47, 50 and 51 wins in the three seasons after 1999-2000.
Minnesota’s high point during that window came in 2003-04, after offseason trades for Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell. The Timberwolves won 58 games, earned the West’s No. 1 seed and reached the conference finals — the franchise’s first two playoff series victories — before falling to the Lakers in six. Garnett also won the NBA MVP that season.
The peak proved brief. Minnesota dropped to 44 wins and missed the playoffs in 2004-05, then suffered 12 consecutive losing seasons through 2017. Garnett was traded to Boston during that downturn, and the team took more than a decade to recover. From 2001 through 2005, only three Timberwolves age 25 or younger averaged double-digit points — Garnett, Wally Szczerbiak and Chauncey Billups — and the roster lacked young scoring depth. The team selected seven players in the 2001–2005 drafts (five second-rounders and two first-rounders), but only one provided even modest production.
The comparison between the Timberwolves in 2000 and the Clippers in 2026 isn’t perfect, the source notes, and that imperfect parallel could carry implications in either direction for the Clippers’ long-term roster construction.
