Though training camp has started and the 2021-22 NBA season is rapidly approaching, the offseason is still on the minds of some front office executives around the league.
During the offseason, as soon as the free agency period opened, Lonzo Ball agreed to a four-year, $84 million deal to sign with the Chicago Bulls. Which, if you had been following the rumor mill around the league, it was known that the Bulls and Ball had mutual interest, but to have a deal done at the exact moment that free agency opened? That raised several eyebrows around the league.
On a recent episode of ‘ The Hoop Collective’, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst stated, “In talking to league executives in the last week or so, people say ‘hey, what do you think is going on with that tampering investigation’?”
On Aug. 7, the NBA announced that they launched an investigation looking into possible tampering violations regarding the sign-and-trade deals between the Bulls and New Orleans Pelicans for Ball and the Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors for Kyle Lowry.
As Windhorst mentioned on the podcast, the Milwaukee Bucks were penalized a second-round pick and a fine, which makes ESPN’s Tim Bontemps think that the Bulls will get hit with a bigger penalty. “I suspect the penalty will be more sever in this case because the team’s got the players in this scenario…In talking with execs also, if you just make it where everybody just gets a slap on the wrist no matter what happens, then why would anybody listen to the rules at all?”
Time will tell when the league comes to a conclusion if the teams involved in both deals will be punished and to what extent.
Check out the full podcast here.
