The Indiana Pacers struggled to recoup much in the way of assets in return for Paul George this summer after George let them know that he would be walking next summer in free agency. Indiana eventually dealt George to the Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, but it appears as though the Pacers aren’t ready to let go of what went down with their former star this summer.
The NBA announced on Sunday that the league was investigating whether the Lakers, George’s reported preferred free agent destination, and team president Magic Johnson made impermissible contact with George and violated the league’s tampering rules. Johnson has hinted publicly at wanting George, and has done so not so subtly, but no charges had been levied against him or the Lakers until the Pacers prompted the league to look into the matter.
Just after Woj corroborates Vescey report on NBA tampering investigation, the league releases a statement saying no findings thus far. pic.twitter.com/dAsLSVAwpA
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) August 20, 2017
“At the request of the Indiana Pacers, the NBA opened an investigation into alleged tampering by the Los Angeles Lakers. The independent investigation is being conducted by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz. The Lakers have been cooperative and, at this point, no findings have been made. We have asked both teams to refrain from commenting while the investigation is ongoing.”
The investigation has not revealed any tampering yet and the Lakers have been cooperative to this point, according to the league’s statement, but it’s a significant charge levied by the Pacers and one that the league takes seriously. Players are allowed to discuss the future of other players — like Blake Griffin’s recent comments on LeBron James’ 2018 decision, for example — but front office personnel and other team employees are barred from that sort of discussion or contact with future free agents until July 1 of the year they hit the market. The tampering rules read as follows.
Article 35A of the NBA Constitution states that it’s a violation of the league’s anti-tampering rule for any person affiliated with an NBA team to directly or indirectly (i) entice, induce, or persuade, or attempt to entice, induce or persuade, any player, coach, GM or other person under contract to any other NBA team to enter into negotiations for or relating to that person’s services or to negotiate or contract for such services, or (ii) otherwise interfere with the employment relationship between that employee and the other NBA team.
It’s possible that nothing happened, but for Johnson and GM Rob Pelinka, a former agent making his first foray into a front office position, it’s not out of the question to wonder whether they managed to cross a line. The Pacers weren’t happy with the way the George news came out publicly and the constant connections to him being set on going home to L.A. next summer directly led to him being undervalued on the trade market, and this is clearly an attempt to get back at the Lakers for being the ones they believe broke up their once happy relationship with George.
The Lakers released a statement on Sunday night acknowledging the investigation and noting that while they can’t comment on it they are cooperating fully and hope to clear their name soon.
“As the NBA’s statement made clear, we cannot comment about the specifics of any ongoing investigation. We can confirm, however, that we are cooperating fully with the NBA in the hope of clearing our name as soon as possible.”
