NBA Opened Investigation Into Free Agency Tampering

Via ESPN:

Within days, the league opened an investigation centered on the timing of some of the earliest reported free-agency deals on June 30, sources familiar with the matter told ESPN.com. The scope of that investigation is developing. It is expected to include interviews with players and possibly agents and team employees, sources say. The league has the power to punish teams it finds to be guilty of tampering ahead of June 30 at 6 p.m. Eastern Time — the first minute that teams are allowed to speak with representatives of free agents. It also might seek information on the timing of negotiations so that any revised free-agency calendar might better align with what is actually happening. The investigation followed a tense owners meeting, which multiple sources described to ESPN. Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan, speaking as the head of the labor committee, discussed the possible need to revisit free-agency rules in the next collective bargaining agreement, sources said

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver seemingly came down on the side of rewriting the tampering rules rather than enforcing them.

“I think the consensus at both our committee meetings and the board meeting was that we need to revisit and reset those rules, that some of the rules we have in place may not make sense,” Silver said, per Yahoo. “I think that’s what we discussed. I think it’s pointless at the end of the day to have rules that we can’t enforce. I think it hurts the perception of integrity around the league if people say, ‘Well, you have that rule and it’s obvious that teams aren’t fully complying, so why do you have it?’”

From today:

On Kawhi, Paul George, and the next frontiers of player empowerment: https://t.co/EItT8dMKiQ

With @WindhorstESPN: Inside the debate on tampering at the highest levels of the NBA: https://t.co/qOgtR25Zed

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) July 24, 2019