Bucks owner Marc Lasry said, “We hope it would be players like Anthony Davis and others who want to come to Milwaukee.”
It doesn’t matter Lasry was responding to a report about Davis’ interest in the Bucks. Davis is still under contract with the Pelicans. As vague and arbitrarily enforced as the NBA’s tampering rules are, this was a clear violation.
Malika Andrews of ESPN:
Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry has been fined 25K for his comments about Anthony Davis, league sources tell ESPN. The comments violated league tampering rules.
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) February 11, 2019
The league was right – based on its written rules – to punish Lasry. But why $25,000?
The Lakers recently got fined $500,000 for one tampering violation then $50,000 for another. Was the $500,000 violation (Paul George) 10 times as egregious as Lasry’s? Was the $50,000 violation (Giannis Antetokounmpo) twice as egregious as Lasry’s? Was the $50,000 violation higher only because the Lakers were a repeat offender?
Again, I think the NBA – given its existing framework – was correct to punish Lasry. But it’s still impossible to escape how inconsistent the league is on tampering.