The NBA teams that are the focus of tampering investigations regarding the deals involving Lonzo Ball and Kyle Lowry are facing significant penalties.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Friday that the NBA is getting closer to completing its investigation into the Ball and Lowry transactions. The findings and penalties from the investigation could be released soon, according to Woj.
The penalties on the table are significant. Teams could be fined as much as $10 million; team executives could be suspended; teams could forfeit draft picks; and contracts could even be voided. Woj notes that a contract being voided is unlikely.
The Chicago Bulls acquired Ball in a sign-and-trade deal with the New Orleans Pelicans. The deal was reported almost immediately when the free agency legal tampering period began, though it wasn’t completed until Aug. 8.
The Miami Heat acquired Lowry in a sign-and-trade deal with the Toronto Raptors. The deal was completed on Aug. 6 but Lowry announced an hour into free agency on Aug. 2 that he would be signing with Miami.
Sign-and-trade deals can be complex to pull off. So when the deals were reported so quickly, red flags apparently were raised for the league.
The NBA has been reviewing electronic messages from agents and team executives during their investigation. The Bulls, Pelicans, Heat and Raptors are the four teams being investigated by the league.
One reporter already suggested the Bulls are facing a pretty serious penalty from the league.
Photo: Mar 26, 2021; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball warms up before their game against the Denver Nuggets at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
Fred VanVleet has been fined by the NBA for doing an “obscene gesture” on Thursday night.
VanVleet scored 32 points in Toronto’s 115-109 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. The Raptors guard made a big 3-pointer to make it a two-possession game in the final minute and celebrated by doing the “big balls dance.”
The big balls dance is a big no-no in the eyes of the NBA, which is why VanVleet was fined $15,000 for doing it.
That’s chump change for someone making just under $20 million this season. VanVleet is probably more than happy to trade $15,000 for making big shots in close games like that one.
Carlos Correa is one of the top free agents on the market this winter. As is usually the case with big free agents, the New York Yankees have been linked to Correa. They seem to have legitimate interest in the shortstop, too.
There’s just one complication: Correa would be leaving the Houston Astros, a team the Yankees have developed a rivalry with in recent seasons.
Much of the issues between the teams stem from ALCS clashes in 2017 and 2019. The issues were exacerbated by the reveal that the Astros employed a sign-stealing scheme on the way to the 2017 World Series. That drew the ire of numerous Yankees players, and Yankee fans let the Astros have it in Houston’s first trip to New York this season.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman responded to that topic on Friday. Cashman was asked whether a potential negative reaction from players or fans would impact whether or not he would pursue a player like Correa.
“I’m here just to kind of assess all available players in the marketplace and then get as much information as I can for free agents and potential trade people,” Cashman said, via Erik Boland of Newsday. “So things like (potential fan/player anger) is not part of that process. To me, just making sure I understand what’s available, the price point of acquisition, and then communicate all of that back to ownership, as well as my baseball ops team, so we can . . . then gravitate to what’s realistic or not.
“The bottom line is, is he a great player? The answer to that is yes,” Cashman added of Correa. “He’s a free agent. So my job is to assess him as well as the others that are available and then act accordingly.”
In other words, Cashman says the potential fan reaction isn’t his problem. Why? Correa would win New York fans over if he performs. However, the Yankees should consider how Correa would impact the team’s clubhouse.
Correa certainly seems open to joining the Yankees, or at the very least he’s enjoying the rumor mill. Plus, if this old quote from ownership is any indication, the Yankees’ decision-makers are probably over it as well.
Photo: Aug 4, 2020; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers sound very close to getting LeBron James back in action.
Coach Frank Vogel revealed Friday that James is considered “truly day-to-day” and has been taking part in on-court work.
James has not played since Nov. 2 with what the team has called an abdominal strain. The Lakers have been reluctant to put a timetable on his return up to this point, but this is clear progress and a sign that James’ return could be imminent.
This should also put to rest speculation that James’ injury may be more serious than publicly known. The veteran superstar will likely be willing to play through any discomfort, so that’s not an issue. This early in the season, the Lakers won’t push him unless they feel comfortable doing so.
Taysom Hill is back with the New Orleans Saints after what sounds like a very scary bout with a concussion.
Hill hasn’t played since Oct. 10, when he was knocked out of a game against Washington on an ugly helmet-to-helmet hit. It took a month for Hill to be cleared to return, and he gave an indication why on Friday.
Hill admitted that he can’t remember anything that happened 45 minutes after the hit.
Concussions are scary, even for seasoned athletes. Memory loss is just one possible symptom, but undoubtedly one of the more unsettling ones. It’s no wonder some players have been driven to retire early partly as a result of suffering multiple ones.
Hill has collected 118 yards from scrimmage so far this season. Though starting quarterback Jameis Winston is out for the season, backup Trevor Siemian, not Hill, will be under center this week.
One Cleveland news station is hitting Kyle Kuzma with a counterpunch.
WEWS-TV aired a savage graphic under a clip of the Washington Wizards forward Kuzma speaking after this week’s game against the Cavaliers. The graphic said that Kuzma “won an NBA championship thanks to LeBron James.” Check out a screenshot, courtesy of Twitter user @blazersdawg05.
In case you are not familiar with the backstory, Kuzma got into it with some hecklers in the Cleveland crowd on Wednesday. The Wizards won a tight 97-94 game, and Kuzma had a savage diss afterwards for the Cavs faithful.
The former Los Angeles Laker Kuzma has yet to respond to the swipe from WEWS-TV. But this is not the worst treatment we’ve seen an NBA player get from a news station recently.
Photo: Jul 10, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers player Kyle Kuzma arrives on the red carpet at Microsoft Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Cam Newton is back with the Carolina Panthers, which seems to be what he wanted all along.
Newton addressed the media Friday after the Panthers signed him earlier in the week. He closed out his presser by making clear that at least part of him had never left Carolina.
“Without further ado, I will say something that I’ve been wanting to say for a long time: keep pounding,” Newton said to close the press conference.
“Keep pounding” has long been a Panthers motto. It originated in 2003, and you can read the story behind it here.
We already knew Newton was thrilled to be back with the Panthers, where he began his career and won an MVP award. He won’t start Sunday against Arizona, but he should be in line to get the opportunity in Week 11.
Photo: Aug 22, 2019; Foxborough, MA, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (1) warms up prior to the start of a game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Magic Johnson’s Twitter account has been the subject of endless fascination and intrigue among NBA fans. Johnson’s tweets are usually blindly obvious takes about the NBA, which actually gives them a somewhat endearing quality.
In 2020, however, the world suffered a bit of disappointment when it learned that Johnson does not actually write his own tweets. Fear not, though: Johnson’s longtime friend, actor Rob Lowe, got to the bottom of the situation. Lowe said on Friday’s edition of the “Pardon My Take” podcast that Johnson doesn’t physically write his own tweets, but they are his words. How? Apparently he has someone following him around to relay what he says (roughly 1:10:00 into the episode).
“Last night I found out that Magic Johnson does not physically do any of the tweets, which may explain some of them,” Lowe said. “It’s articulated, clearly across the room or while he’s doing 17 other things as a titan of industry, and then there is a woman whose job is to figure out what he’s talking about and make it a tweet.”
Lowe added that he doesn’t believe Johnson is explicitly singling out the things he says to be tweeted, meaning this employee is responsible for sifting through Johnson’s various observations and sending the best of them.
“I think he doesn’t say ‘send tweet,’ so she never knows when it’s ending. So you get what you get,” Lowe theorized.
Maybe that explains some of Johnson’s painfully obvious takes — he’s just casually chatting about the NBA with someone who might not follow it all that closely. On the other hand, it might mean some of Johnson’s unintentional burns weren’t actually an accident after all.
Fairly or not, NFL defensive linemen are taking notice of what Mac Jones did last week against the Carolina Panthers.
Jones has been repeatedly criticized by the Panthers for grabbing the ankles of Carolina’s Brian Burns after fumbling on Sunday. Burns did not have the ball, but Jones’ defense has been that he wasn’t aware of that and was merely trying to make a tackle.
It doesn’t sound like a lot of linemen are buying that defense. Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Myles Garrett, who is facing Jones this Sunday, admitted he would be keeping an eye on Jones for that reason, especially with Garrett nursing a sore foot.
“Of course, I watched it, and I’ll hold my comments on that one,” Garrett told reporters on Friday, via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. “I mean, hopefully it doesn’t happen to me. I don’t know. [I hope Jones] doesn’t turn into the ankle grabber. I don’t know. So we’ll see.
“I mean, if I tackle him or I sack him and I let him grab me, honestly, that’s on me. I’m not saying it’s on Brian. He didn’t expect it. But now we’ve all seen it. Now I know to get my behind up and get out the way.”
Defensive linemen do not take kindly to what they feel is unnecessarily dangerous play that could injure them. It’s clear that they think what Jones did to Burns qualifies as that. Burns even invited his fellow defensive linemen to go hard after Jones in the future as a result.
The reputation probably won’t stick as long as Jones doesn’t do anything else that could be seen as dirty. For now, though, it sounds like defensive linemen are going to be on high alert around him.
Photo: Aug 12, 2021; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones 10) throws the ball during a game against the Washington Football Team at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton left the NFL’s competition committee, and hinted at some frustration with the league in doing so.
Payton confirmed Friday that he had exited the committee, but went into few details about the decision. In fact, he said he would rather not disclose anything further for fear of getting fined.
Maybe Payton isn’t entirely serious, but it’s still an intriguing line. It definitely sounds like someone whose decision was triggered by something more specific.
Of course, Payton has plenty of history when it comes to clashing with the NFL. There’s the infamous Bountygate case, plus an even more infamous call that arguably cost his team a Super Bowl appearance. Payton didn’t even seem impressed with the league’s attempts to prevent a repeat of that error. Maybe this all has something to do with that.
