J.J. Redick points finger at Pelicans for initiating Lonzo Ball, Kyle Lowry tampering investigations

J.J. Redick has an axe to grind with the Pelicans front office, run by David Griffin.

So, Redick is using the NBA’s tampering investigations into the Lonzo Ball Pelicans-Bulls sign-and-trade and Kyle Lowry Raptors-Heat sign-and-trade to cast aspersions onto New Orleans.

New Orleans traded top open cap space before free agency officially opened reportedly offered Lowry more money than Miami. The Pelicans participating in the Ball sign-and-trade doesn’t necessarily mean they were cool with the transaction. They might have feared Chicago, after impermissible early negotiations, signing Ball to an offer sheet they wouldn’t match and felt the sign-and-trade was their best option at that point.

Redick on his podcast:

It’s a little bit for show probably, I guess. I don’t know. I think you would probably have to ask the guy who’s asking for the investigation. Some teams cleared a ton of cap space to get Kyle, and it didn’t happen. And then Lonzo leaving. So you’d have to ask that guy, that guy complaining.

Maybe Redick’s insinuation is fair. Maybe it’s not.

The NBA tends to investigate tampering only when another team complains. That’s one of the reasons violations are so arbitrarily enforced. The league should implement followable rules and enforce them. It shouldn’t depend whether or not an aggrieved team tattles.

Especially when practically everyone is operating from within glass houses.