LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard have discussed reuniting on the Trail Blazers. Aldridge, who left Portland for San Antonio and remains under contract with the Spurs, said that.
The story here isn’t the content.
It’s the medium.
Running the Trail Blazers’ Twitter account, Lillard responded with Aldridge to a fan question about adding a former teammate to Portland’s current roster. The since-deleted tweet, via Nico Martinez of Fadeaway World:
This is harmless. It’s akin to the Celtics tweeting an image of an Anthony Davis Celtics jersey while he played for the Pelicans. The NBA never announced a punishment for Boston for that.
But that was also before the league decided to crack down on tampering.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said players discussing joining forces would be a violation only if the player was acting at the behest of the team. This is essentially the opposite. The team amplified a player’s desire to join forces with someone under contract with another team.
Will the NBA punish the Trail Blazers? It’s hard to get worked up over this. But considering the league’s seemingly arbitrary history of tampering enforcement plus potential to make an example under new guidelines, it’s at least worth watching.
