When’s he’s not pursuing his high-paying career as a shoe pitchman, Kevin Durant moonlights as a basketball player.
The Thunder superstar will become a free agent in 2016, and his hometown Wizards are the popular suitor.
Behind Oklahoma City and Washington, the Raptors are also in the race. They project to have max cap room, are an up-and-coming team and have Durant’s high school teammate and friend, Greivis Vasquez. They also have ties with Drake, another apparent friend of Durant.
At OVO Fest in Toronto, Drake tried to recruit Durant to the Raptors (hat tip: Erik Horne of The Oklahoman) (warning: the video contains an expletive just before it ends):
At face value, this is a harmless pitch by a Toronto native. Drake, when wasn’t trying to get on the Heat’s bandwagon, attends Raptors games as a lint-roller fan.
But Drake also holds an official position within the organization. The Raptors’ media guide lists Drake as “Global Brand Ambassador” and provides this description:
That is precisely what he’s doing in the video – marketing and trying to raise the team’s profile. Paid or not, Drake is doing his job.
He’s also tampering, at least by the letter of the law.
An employee of an NBA team can’t permissibly “induce, persuade, or attempt to entice, induce or persuade, any Player who is under contract to, or whose exclusive negotiating rights are held by, any other Member of the Association to enter into negotiations for or relating to his services or negotiate or contract for such services.”
And to whom does that restriction apply? “To Members and Owners; to Officers, Managers, Coaches, and other employees, agents or representatives of a Member or Owner.”
At minimum, Drake seems like a representative of the Raptors, though doesn’t mean he or the team will face any penalties.
The NBA effectively lets players do whatever they want, but Phil Jackson gets fined for a couple benign comments about Derek Fisher before his playing contract with the Thunder ended.
Tampering rules are hypocritical and arbitrarily enforced, so there’s little telling how the league office will respond, though I suspect they’ll turn a blind eye. The Thunder, if they choose, could press the issue by filing a complaint, but that also seems unlikely.
Most likely, this goes nowhere – the tampering allegations and Durant to Toronto.