Clippers fined $250,000 for violating league rules

(Reuters) - The Los Angeles Clippers have been fined $250,000 by the National Basketball Association for violating NBA rules prohibiting teams from offering players unauthorized business or investment opportunities. According to the NBA, the violation involved a presentation made by the Clippers to free agent DeAndre Jordan on July 2 that improperly included a potential third-party endorsement opportunity for the player. "While the NBA's investigation ultimately concluded that the presentation of this opportunity had no impact on Jordan's decision to re-sign with the Clippers, the team's conduct nevertheless violated the league's anti-circumvention rules," the NBA said in a statement on Tuesday. Those rules prohibit teams from providing or arranging for others "to provide any form of compensation to a player unless such compensation is included in a player contract or otherwise expressly permitted under the CBA", the NBA said. Free agent center Jordan, the NBA's rebounding leader for the past two seasons, backed out of a verbal commitment he made to the Dallas Mavericks earlier this year to re-sign with the Clippers on July 8 on a four-year deal worth $87.6 million. (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Larry Fine)