Tampering In The NBA Is Impossible To Define And Stop
Tampering. It’s a pretty known unknown in the NBA. If somebody told you what tampering was, you’d know what they mean. But it’s not a term just thrown out there, there has to be concrete evidence of it. But recently, there have been reports that the NBA is going to launch an investigation into some recent free agency moves that could potentially involve tampering. But what does that mean, exactly?
So today, I am going to look at what tampering is, what it’s history is, what we should do about tampering in the future, and what these two new investigations means.
The Definition of Tampering
What is tampering? I think it’s important we go over what tampering actually is before we go into a whole deep dive about it.
The Definition of Tampering, according to the NBA;
“Any Player who, directly or indirectly, entices, induces, persuades or attempts to entice, induce or persuade any Player, Coach, Trainer, General Manager, or any other person who is under contract to any other Member of the Association to enter into negotiations for or relating to his services shall, on being charged with such tampering, should be given an opportunity to answer to such charges after due notice and the Commissioner shall have the power to decide whether or not the charges have been sustained …”
Essentially, you can’t talk with a player or their team if they are under contract. This essentially only means star players, meaning that other teams can’t talk to said star player if that player is currently under contract. It does technically mean every single player, not just star players, but it would be a lot more embarrassing to try and tamper with Shake Milton instead of Joel Embiid.
Tampering has again come in the news again, this time involving free agency. Adrian Wojnarowski broke a story that the NBA was investigating both the Lonzo Ball and Kyle Lowry sign-and-trade deals. Now, this is pretty straight forward. NBA Free Agency started on August 2nd, 6:00 PM ET.
So it’s obvious that something shady is up with both of those deals. Perhaps the teams involved talked with the other team earlier than allowed or perhaps the teams trying to get the player in the deal talked with that players agent too soon. We still don’t know a whole lot about the investigation, but we should find some pretty eye-opening information soon (hopefully, I kind of want this to go somewhere).
So now we know what tampering is and what it means in context to the investigations about two separate sign and trade deals. But now it’s time to look at the history of tampering in the NBA. Where did it start and what has it become?
History of Tampering in the NBA
It’s hard to say when tampering actually started, but we have some great examples from the last 20 years or so to go off on. Most tampering things you see nowadays are public statements made by coaches, executives, or even other players. But there have been situations that go a little bit weirder than what you would think the NBA would consider tampering.
I think the first real example of tampering that got punished was in 2000, involving the Minnesota Timberwolves. The T-Wolves tried to make an under the table deal with role player Joe Smith to go over the salary cap. David Stern was of course not happy and the T-Wolves racked up a hefty punishment.
They were fined $3.5 million dollars and lost 5 first round draft picks, all for trying to sign Joe Smith, a NBA journeyman. The worst part of that was, the T-Wolves had a prime Kevin Garnett and they just lost him 5 first round picks. 5 chances to add teammates to help KG win a title or 5 first round picks to try and trade for other good players to help KG win a title.
This 2000 example was probably the harshest example of tampering being punished, but it certainly didn’t refrain others from doing similar things.
In 2004, Carlos Boozer was involved with a double tampering incident with his incumbent team, the Cavaliers, and his new team, the Utah Jazz. Boozer verbally agreed to a deal with the Cavs but then later signed a much larger deal with the Jazz because he saw other players, players not as good as him, getting more money than the “verbal contract” that he “signed” with the Cavs.
Booker’s departure prompted Cavs owner Gordon Gund to make this letter to Cleveland fans. Yes, Dan Gilbert was not the first person in Cavs history to make a letter to Cavs fan about a departing free agent.
This was the first part of that letter, a lot more mild mannered than the 2010 Dan Gilbert one;
“I know last week’s developments with respect to Carlos Boozer are a source of extreme disappointment for you. I want to assure you that I feel exactly the same way. Like you, I believed in Carlos. Several days have now gone by. This has helped me to gain perspective. I hope this letter will do the same for you.”
But even a letter from the owner of a franchise couldn’t stop tampering from happening around the NBA.
-Mark Cuban was fined in 2010 and 2015 for tampering. In 2010, it was about Lebron James. In 2015, it was about Deandre Jordan.
-Phil Jackson was fined for tampering in 2014 with regards to Dereck Fisher.
-The Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets, and Sacramento Kings were fined for tampering during the 2013 free agency period.
The Lakers have had so many tampering fines over the years. From Giannis, Ben Simmons, Anthony Davis, Kawhi, Paul George, the list goes on and on and on and on. Magic Johnson was fined $500,000 for comments made about Paul George during a interview with Jimmy Kimmel. The Lakers just don’t seem to care and that seems to be the trend nowadays.
While there are so many rules for tampering, everybody seems to do it. Most executives in the NBA have probably done some tampering, some of them doing to more publicly/stupidly than others. It’s kind of like everybody is speeding on the highway. Everybody is in the wrong and deserves a ticket, but since everybody is doing it, you not doing it puts you at a disadvantage.
But perhaps the stupidest tampering incidents we’ve had is when the Bucks got fined for tampering. With their own player. That’s right, this actually happened. In 2019, Bucks GM Jon Horst was asked about the long-term situation of Antetokounmpo’s contract.
He flat out said that next season, they would give Giannis the supermax extension. This is stupid, not only because Giannis is on the team currently, everybody already knew this. But for the GM to say this and the Bucks getting fined $50,000, is pretty funny.
Side note, Giannis did sign that supermax extension in December of 2020. 7 months later, he won a championship. Safe to say, things all worked out in the end.
The NBA has had a very long and interesting history with tampering. We have had a lot of incidents of tampering and a lot of punishments. But has the NBA really been enforcing tampering? Are we sure they always, always enforce tampering when it arises?
The NBA has tampering rules and I gave you countless examples of tampering happening. But even with all of those examples and actual NBA rules, tampering still falls through the cracks, even with the NBA knowing about it.
There Are Tampering Rules, Right?
At the start, we stated what the NBA tampering rules were and what they meant. When there is a rule on something, that means it’s enforced, certainly when a sports league like the NBA has a rule pertaining to something like tampering. But are these rules actually being enforced? Yes and no. It’s complicated.
Obviously, I gave you a lot of examples of punishments above. But there are still a lot of people not happy about the NBA enforcing tampering rules. An Adrian Wojnarowski article from December 2018 articulates that point very well.
Here are just some of the points made in that article;
The article was made in wake of Lebron James publicly endorsing pursuit of a trade for Anthony Davis. Several small market GM’s at the time expressing “outrage,” into the NBA’s unwillingness to enforce the tampering rules.
“It’s New Orleans’ problem today, and a problem with a different player tomorrow for the rest of us,” one Eastern Conference GM told ESPN. “It’s open season on small markets and our players.”
“If these are the rules, enforce them. If you want to push Anthony Davis in L.A., if you allow LeBron to interfere with teams, then just do it. Change the rules, and say, ‘It’s the wild, wild west and anything goes.’ But give us a list of the rules that you’re enforcing, and give us a list of the rules that you’re going to ignore.” – One Western Conference GM
League executives contend that the NBA needs to start holding players responsible for public comments the way they generally do owners and management.
There’s a broad belief among smaller-market GMs that the league doesn’t only condone the public wooing of star players toward big markets, but it encourages it. Commissioner Adam Silver has vehemently pushed back on that notion in the past, but most top team executives are convinced that the NBA is predisposed to craving the drama and storylines created in these circumstances, placing far more value on the potential financial benefits of fan interest and stars in big markets than it does the maintaining of a fair, competitive environment.
“There is no confidence among most of us — if not all of us — that the league cares about protecting our interests,” one small-market GM told ESPN. “It’s hard enough already to hold onto the kind of players we need to try and win with — but [the league] doesn’t do anything to help.”
There’s a lot in that article to go over. That Eastern Conference GM who said, “it’s open season on small markets and players,” is absolutely right. I’ve already done an article talking about the disparity between large and small markets. The NBA not doing anything to restrict Lebron from saying these things is basically saying that Lebron can do anything he wants, which he can. Out partying with Drake and breaking Covid protocols? It’s fine, who cares anyway?
One Western Conference GM gave a great point, tell us which rules you’re going to enforce and which ones you’re not going to. If there is a rule, enforce it. What’s the point of having the rule if Lebron James, the most powerful figure in the NBA, can just say whatever he wants, no punishments given at all? There shouldn’t be people allowed to break rules just because of their status. Everybody should be held accountable or nobody at all.
The part where some NBA executives say that the NBA “craves,” story-lines is true. Take the NFL for example. They don’t struggle with ratings, they’re incredibly popular. They don’t need bloggers/journalists to create buzz, they really don’t.
The NBA has struggled with it’s ratings over the past decade or so, so creating/buzz rumors is so important to them. So in a way, while Adam Silver says he wants to create a “fair” environment for everybody, it’s more money in his pocket if Lebron, or anybody is allowed to say all of these things. Saying these things makes storylines, it gets social media perked up, the league gets a lot more attention. You can’t tell me Adam Silver doesn’t like those things.
I think that another example of not enforcing tampering as often as they should is free agency, specifically the insane 2019 free agency period when there was just so much movement amongst star players. Within minutes of free agency starting, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving just signed with the Nets. You’d have to think either they or the Nets discussed this before it was allowed for both sides to talk to each other.
Kemba Walker was already in Boston before his eventual sign and trade happened. Unless he really like Clam Chowder, Walker already knew what was going to happen, which would also be illegal under the NBA’s tampering “rules”.
And that brings us to the thing that will always trump tampering. Players talking with one another. There is no way you can stop them from texting each other, talking before/after games, talking in the tunnel, in the parking lot, at the All-Star game, etc. You get the point. There is just no way to stop/regulate that and that is why tampering is just so hard to stop.
You can’t just say stop doing it, because individuals can always just slip through the cracks and recruit each other. In 2019, KD, Kyrie, and Deandre Jordan all signed with the Brooklyn Nets. There is more to this story than just Sean Marks and Brooklyn assembling talent.
KD tried to recruit Deandre Jordan to join him at Texas back in 2007. Jordan didn’t go that route, but they became friends, or at the very least talked with each other. In 2016, those 3 guys were spotted on the Silver Cloud, a 514-foot cruise ship. It was docked in Rio de Janeiro, where KD, Kyrie, and Jordan were all members of Team USA. Funny how they all signed together in 2019.
That story is one of many. Like the rumor that in 2008, as members of USA Basketball, Lebron, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh all made a pact to sign together in 2010. Maybe that’s just a rumor, but it’s a pretty good, isolated place, where 3 stars can just talk about teaming up, if you ask me.
I’m sure there are a lot more examples I can use, but in terms of enforcing tampering? There is always going to be a way for things like that to slip into the cracks, the grey areas. From Lebron getting away with things, free agency shadiness, to players just talking one-on-one, there are so many ways to rule breaks to happen without any regulation.
That leads me to my next point, should tampering stay or should it go?
A Rock and a Hard Place; Should Tampering Stay or Go?
The answer to whether or not the tampering rules/restrictions should stay or go is a hard question. Obviously, it’s good to have rules on negotiations and make sure things aren’t like the Wild West. But on the other hand, these rules certainly aren’t refraining teams from breaking the rules, they just don’t seem to care, really.
We have two new investigations that are ongoing and it’s obvious nobody is going to stop. So the NBA can make a few decisions here;
- Allow tampering. Let it become like the Wild West. But I don’t think the NBA will do this because Adam Silver wants things to be “fair”. He doesn’t want small market teams to be left in the dust by bigger markets, who in this hypothetical, would rule supreme over the league even more than they do now.
While many have said tampering rules should just go away, I doubt they’re ever going to do that. They want to keep things “fair,” although, as we talked about, the extra money would be easily welcomed. - This 2nd scenario seems a whole lot more likely. If the NBA finds evidence of tampering in either of these two moves, they should make an incredible harsh example of the teams involved. In 2019, the NBA Board of Governors unanimously passed a stricter package of measures to enforce compliance with tampering.
Here are some of the things the NBA passed. Under the new changes, a selected team ops member from each organization will have to verify that their respective team did everything by the book when it comes to free-agent signings each year. This just means that they have to show proof that their negotiations were legal and that it fits into the cap limitations that the NBA has.
“Suspending executives…taking away draft picks….voiding contracts…All those provisions are on the table,” Silver said of the new rule changes. “The ultimate goal is compliance.”
Under the rules, fines for tampering with team or player personnel will double — from $5 million to $10 million — while the fines for unauthorized agreements will jump up to $6 million for a team and $250,000 for a player.
What Silver said is pretty simple. A harsher example for teams found to be tampering. More fines, suspensions to executives, taking away draft picks, etc. Those are some pretty hefty punishments, but would they stop teams from potentially tampering? With two ongoing investigations, the answer to that continues to be no.
So I think that if the NBA finds evidence that tampering went on, they absolutely need to bring out the big guns. Fines, voided contracts, suspensions, the whole nine yards. If they find anything, they have to make an example out of teams to try, to try and make sure stuff like this becomes more irregular.
But the problem is, I’m sure most teams are going to be fine with paying a large fine, some executives getting suspended, and even them losing draft picks if it means they get a new superstar to be playing in their arena, winning them games and making them money. Which is again, why the NBA is at such a rock and a hard place with what to do. There is no easy answer to try and solve this ongoing problem.
New Tampering Allegations, Future Outlook
So we’ve talked about what tampering is. We’ve talking about past incidents about tampering and what has gotten us to this point. We’ve talked about the NBA’s inconsistent enforcement of tampering rules and how, no matter how you split it, it’s impossible to fully crack down on tampering. Finally, we talked about should tampering stay or go and really didn’t find an answer there.
So this investigation involving the Lonzo Ball and Kyle Lowry sign-and-trades is crucial. We’ll see how severe punishments could be if evidence of tampering is found. Maybe we see historic punishments. Maybe this leads to the NBA taking down tampering rules/restrictions in the future (not a good idea).
This whole situation with tampering is so weird. We’ve had such a long history with tampering and we’ve seen the league take the route of trying to keep things fair. But with all of their punishments, all of their statements condemning tampering, it hasn’t done much to slow the ball from rolling.
Tampering is impossible to keep track of in some cases and teams really don’t seem to care that they are breaking the rules. Which is why, there really seems to be no end in sight to this problem. I can’t really think of a solution that solves everything, from the disparity in big and small market teams, to tampering just slipping through the cracks without the NBA being able to control it. The situation is incredibly complex and I am going to be very interested to see what happens with this investigation.
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