The Los Angeles Lakers are the subject of the NBA’s attention for the wrong reasons once again.
The league confirmed Monday that they are looking into any potential inappropriate contact between the Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons after Magic Johnson’s comments on potentially mentoring the guard.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass tells ESPN: “The league office is looking into whether any contact took place between Ben Simmons and the Los Angeles Lakers that violated NBA rules.”
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 11, 2019
This comes in light of comments made by Sixers GM Elton Brand, who suggested that Laker GM Rob Pelinka had told him a month ago that Simmons had an interest in talking to Hall of Famers such as Johnson after the season. Those comments would seem to indicate that Pelinka, who is running the Lakers, somehow had contact with a Sixers player that the Philadelphia organization didn’t know about. The league’s investigation is likely to center on whether that was the case.
After making the comments, Brand seemed eager to put the whole issue behind him and refused to criticize Pelinka or the Lakers.
Elton Brand tells ESPN: "No issue. I have a great relationship with Ben and Rich (Paul) and we expect him to be a Sixer for a long time. He has taken interest in chatting with some of the game's all-time greats and we're supportive. I had brief dialogue with Rob Pelinka…."
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 11, 2019
More Brand on Lakers/Simmons: "…who I've known for a long time, but nothing is planned. Our collective focus is on making a postseason push. Again, we're not seating this, end of story."
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 11, 2019
Johnson has had issues with speaking out of line and breaching tampering rules before. This may be another case where his eagerness to speak freely about a player on another team gets him and his organization in some hot water, as this wasn’t even a publicly known story until his comments on Sunday.
