jbk1234 wrote:Stillwater wrote:jbk1234 wrote:It's being publicly reported and PG was one year in to a five year deal. The league could get the phone records, ask OKC when PG made the trade request, etc. I'm not saying it will happen, but it probably should. This is going to happen again, the offer won't be as generous, a team will say no, and then the stuff is going to hit the fan. Meanwhile, the offending player/team will cite to this incident and say you didn't do anything with PG.
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I don't get the issue though. PG getting a call from Kawhi is not against the rules. Kawhi telling him I will sign with the Clippers if you can get OKC to trade you there isn't either... PG requesting a trade to LAC is also not against the rules.
LAC knowing about the communication and that if they gave up all those assets for PG would also land them Kawhi does violate some rules , but there is no way anyone can prove they "knew" what Kawhi would do , only that they hoped getting PG would make the difference...and it did.
I'd be really surprised if contacting a player under contract, for the sole purpose of asking him to request a trade isn't against the rules, even if it's a player doing it. I know that players can be deemed to have tampered under very specific situations. If it's not against the rules already, I'd love to be a fly in the wall at the next owners meeting.
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It's not against the rules, and it is due to the minutia. It's due to the word "other" in Article 35A(e)&(f)... As Leonard wasn't under contract with any member of the association, George was not under contract with any "other" member of the association.
A player can draw a tampering fine if they are acting in a pattern of conduct with a team or at a team's direction. This was iterated last year during the Lebron/Davis commend. That didn't happen here for obvious reasons. There is nothing to indicate that Leonard was operating on behalf of the Clippers or any team for that matter.
The only other issue would be if Leonard interferred with the Thunder business relationship with George. The conversations were kept out of the media, the is no indication that George demanded a trade or threatened to hold-out if not traded. He let his wishes known through his agent and the Thunder negotiated an arm's-length deal. My understanding is that if a satisfactory trade could not be swung, George would have honored his contract with the Thunder.