The NBA punished the Clippers as never before, and Leonard paid the least

The investigation by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz ended with a penalty the league has not handed down in a long time. The Los Angeles Clippers lose five first-round draft picks - one each in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033 - and pay 30 million dollars. Owner Steve Ballmer is suspended from all league and club activity for a year. President of business operations Gillian Zucker receives the same suspension without pay, among other things because she gave false statements to investigators; Lawrence Frank is suspended for six months. The club will be under league office oversight for the next five years. And Kawhi Leonard, the man all of this revolves around, pays 700,000 dollars and misses not a single game. Adam Silver spoke of "institutional and leadership failure". The bill, as usual, was paid by the draft picks - that is, by the club's future, not by the people who made the decisions.

FIBA has opened the door to the Russians, but only for half of them

After the International Olympic Committee lifted the suspension on Russian and Belarusian athletes, FIBA fell into line - for individuals. Players, coaches, referees and delegates from Russia and Belarus can compete and be nominated in all competitions with immediate effect. For national teams and clubs the decision is postponed to December 2026, when the Central Board meets, and is tied to "logistical questions and player safety" plus an adequate anti-doping programme. The IOC lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee on 7 July, after it had run since 12 October 2023 - imposed after the ROC recognised sports organisations from territories under Ukrainian jurisdiction. The formula is familiar to everyone in the Balkans: the individual returns quickly, the flag waits. The only question is whether that line holds until December.

Curry is going nowhere: "There is no doubt I want to stay"

At 38 and heading into his eighteenth season, Stephen Curry told NBC Sports he wants to finish his career at Golden State: "There is no question I want to be here until the end, and I am fairly sure that is how it will be." On the contract extension he was calmer - it will be settled "when the right moment comes" and it will not distract him from preparations. The numbers back him up: last season he averaged 26.6 points, 4.7 assists and 3.6 rebounds, but in only 43 games because of knee problems. This season he will earn 62.5 million dollars. The Warriors are simultaneously building a future and chasing one last title with him - two things that rarely go together, and Curry refuses to call that a problem.

Eight wins in a row, and a drop in the rankings - how is that possible

The Macedonian basketball team has eight consecutive wins, having beaten Austria in the last cycle too, and in the new FIBA ranking it dropped one place - 65th in the world, 32nd in Europe. That is the logic of the system: the strength of the opponent counts too, not just the result. It is formally correct and emotionally unbearable. Eight wins in a row are not an accident, they are continuity - the rarest thing in Macedonian sport, where we usually get one good match and three years of waiting. The ranking will level out on its own once the team starts getting stronger opponents. Until then, the only thing worth counting is the run, not the number beside the name.

Antonio Saveski (coach, Ohrid) died on the road towards Kičevo

The young basketball coach Antonio Saveski from Ohrid died in a traffic accident on the Ohrid - Kičevo road. The news shook both the sporting and the music world; the singer Aleksandar Josifovski said goodbye with a message that circulated all day. Anyone who has travelled through western Macedonia knows that road - narrow, winding, with decades of promises about rehabilitation and a list of accidents that no institutional report counts as a system, only as individual cases. The youngest people in Macedonian sport spend hours on stretches like that every week, because training sessions and matches take place wherever there is a hall. About who answers for the state of that road, nobody will write today.