The Chicago Bulls came out firing in free agency, agreeing to a sign-and-trade deal with the New Orleans Pelicans to acquire Lonzo Ball right as the moratorium period began. While the agreement was reported right away, there was no deal announced when the moratorium ended on Friday.
Saturday brought news that possibly helped explain why. The Ball sign-and-trade is currently under investigation by the NBA for tampering, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The fact that the Ball deal was reported immediately after free agency opened clearly raised some eyebrows, especially since it’s a sign-and-trade that features several moving parts. The Kyle Lowry-to-Miami deal is also being investigated, though Lowry was already announced as a member of the Heat.
The deal as reported features Ball going to Chicago, with Tomas Satoransky, Garrett Temple (also a sign-and-trade) and a second-round pick going to New Orleans. Temple’s reported deal is three years, $15.5 million. With the deal not finalized yet, there’s a chance it could look different in its final form. There are also rumors of Pelicans interest in Lauri Markkanen (who wants out) that could be complicating matters.
It’s unlikely the Bulls are punished so that Ball will not be allowed to join the team. Ball’s agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, would surely cause a stink if the punishment was that harsh.
However, Chicago could face other penalties pending the results of the investigation. Woj notes that the league “instituted more stringent penalties in these cases in 2019, including raising the maximum fine for teams to $10 million and the possibility of suspending team executives, forfeiting draft picks and even the voiding of contracts.” Furthermore, executives can also have telephone records, texts and emails randomly audited by the NBA as part of the investigation.
The Milwaukee Bucks lost a 2022 second-round pick because of tampering with Sacramento Kings restricted free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic. Bogdanovic wound up going to the Atlanta Hawks, which played a role in the punishment. It would be a bummer if the Bulls lost a first-round pick, especially since they gave two to the Orlando Magic for Nikola Vucevic and one to the San Antonio Spurs for DeMar DeRozan.
It’s worth noting in this situation that the Bulls have been interested in Ball for a while and had negotiations with the Pelicans leading up to the trade deadline. Given these weren’t new talks, there could have been a framework for a deal essentially in place, which would help explain how things were done so quickly.
Of course, it wouldn’t surprise anybody if there was some tampering going on, because this stuff seemingly happens all across the league. It’s not like Ball’s deal was the only one reported right at the start of free agency. There was a whole flurry activity in the minutes after free agency opened, so plenty of stuff had already been worked out beforehand.
Chicago has had a notable offseason with the reported deals for Ball, DeRozan and Alex Caruso. None of this has been announced, though, as this whole situation is still getting sorted out. The investigation will likely take a few weeks or perhaps a bit longer, but that still shouldn’t stop the deals from going official in the near future.
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August 09, 2021 at 03:40AM
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Chicago Bulls Face Lonzo Ball Tampering Investigation - Forbes
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