Daryl Morey fined for tampering via tweet about James Harden

Amid James Harden-76ers trade rumors, 76ers president and former Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted about Harden:

Daryl Morey tryna tell us something? 🧐 pic.twitter.com/wevj6hGwWz

— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) December 21, 2020

NBA:

The NBA announced today that it has fined Daryl Morey, Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations, $50,000 for violating the league’s anti-tampering rule. The fine is in response to a since deleted social media post Morey made on December 20 regarding the Houston Rockets’ James Harden.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:

Morey was fined for an anniversary tweet on a past Harden accomplishment with Rockets that popped up on his twitter feed. He deleted it several minutes later. Morey told league it was an inadvertent post from an automated app, sources said. https://t.co/HJmJUED460

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 28, 2020

The new tampering rules supposedly allowed isolated comments by team officials praising opposing players. How on earth did this not qualify?

Whether or not you believe Morey’s explanation doesn’t really matter. Nobody could reasonably be bothered by his tweet, regardless. It was so harmless.

Meanwhile, more aggressive tampering goes unpunished.

This is what happens when tampering rules are vaguely fined and arbitrarily enforced.