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The Los Angeles Clippers were recently meted the largest fine in NBA history, $30 million, for circumventing the salary cap in favor of Kawhi Leonard. Aside from the fine, suspensions were handed out to team owner Steve Ballmer, president of business operations Gillian Zucker, and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank. Meanwhile, Leonard was fined $700,000 while his uncle and business manager, Dennis Robertson, was banned for five years.
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The Clippers’ salary cap circumvention case was the largest scandal to rock the NBA since, well, the Clippers themselves, when previous team owner Donald Sterling was fined $2.5 million and banned for life for making racist remarks. With the team having more scandals than conference Finals appearances during the same period, Bill Simmons pondered if they need a rebrand to ‘cleanse’ their slate.
“Should they just change their name? Is this it? Is it rebrand time?” asked Simmons on his podcast. ” I always thought they should be called the Hollywood Knights, even though they’re not in Hollywood, and just have, like, a Knights with a’K.’ Or you could call it Hollywood Nights, with an ‘N.’ But either way, it would just feel completely different.”
Clippers history is full of controversies
The Clippers were not always the Clippers. They were founded as the Buffalo Braves in 1970. When they moved to San Diego, that’s when they became the Clippers, in honor of the famous clipper ships in San Diego Bay. The team relocated to Los Angeles in 1984, but they kept the same team name, and that’s where we stand today.
However, since moving to Los Angeles, it has been nothing but failed seasons and controversies for the franchise. Aside from the Donald Sterling and Kawhi cap circumvention scandals, the team was fined $250K in 2015 for offering DeAndre Jordan unauthorized business opportunities – another cap circumvention scenario. Additionally, in 2009, Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Clippers.
“I think they need to do something like that now,” Simmons added. “Granted, everybody who would be involved in that decision is suspended for a year. I don’t even know if they can do it. But I just wonder, have we run the course? It’s been 50 years of the Clippers just being a train wreck and coming up with scandals that we didn’t even know could exist. Is it just time to start over? They don’t even have a retired number. They’ve never made the Finals. You just reset this now someway.”
Ballmer was against changing the team name before
Shortly after becoming the team’s owner, Ballmer changed the Clippers’ logo and uniforms but decided to keep the team’s name.
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“The league doesn’t allow it for a lot of good reasons,” Ballmer said. “I decided I didn’t want to change the name because I thought the name ‘Clippers’ came to represent a team that battled, a team that battled through adversity, really.”
Two years ago, Ballmer also talked about listening to Clippers fans and them having no interest in a new name:
“The focus groups are advisory, not definitive,” Ballmer told ESPN. “But I still listen to them, and I have heard, partially to my surprise, that there is no interest in a name change. I had thought about [the name] years ago, before I got the team, but we heard similar reactions back then.”
That was in 2024, though. It’s unclear what the fans’ sentiments are right now. But given that it’s no longer just adversity but also controversy that the Clippers are facing, maybe it’s time to reconsider and give the franchise a fresh start.
Related: “It’s not the $30 million” – Tim Hardaway reveals what will hurt Steve Ballmer most about NBA suspension
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This story was originally published September 17, 2026 at 1:33 AM.