The NBA increased its tampering rules after a handful of situations. How does it impact the New York Knicks?
It is not often the New York Knicks are alleged of tampering, compared to what happened with the Los Angeles Lakers over the past few years under former president of basketball operations Magic Johnson’s watch. However, moving forward, not tampering is imperative.
On Friday, the NBA announced an increase to its tampering violation consequences. Final figures were not announced, but commissioner Adam Silver said fines could reach as high as $10 million or $5 or $6 million in other cases, including “comments enticing other teams’ players” and Improper deals,” respectively.
This also hinges on the NBA teams to impose these tampering rules, calling out wrongful situations of other teams talking with players while they are still under contract. Whether that happens remains to be seen.
These new consequences arrive after a free agent period that saw frenetic action at its start, on June 30. Player agreements were announced within minutes or seconds of the opening time.
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It is not just for that, but situations like Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers being fined $50,000 for violating the league’s anti-tampering rules in an appearance on ESPN. He spoke about Kawhi Leonard weeks before the two-time NBA champion signed with the Clippers.
The Knicks are not immune to tampering; in 2014, the then-president of basketball operations, Phil Jackson, was fined $25,000 for publicly speaking about Derek Fisher potentially becoming the next head coach. Fisher was still contracted to the Oklahoma City Thunder, making Jackson’s verbiage illegal.
In 2016, Jackson was nearly fined for tampering for a second time, after he contacted Luke Walton for the Knicks’ coaching job without receiving the Golden State Warriors’ permission. Walton later became the Lakers head coach.
These were just parts of Jackson’s tumultuous tenure with the Knicks, featuring a failed implementation of the triangle offense, clashing with Carmelo Anthony and questionable roster decisions.
Everyone is susceptible to tampering, but the Knicks have steered clear since. When it comes to free agency, it can easily happen, especially with the tempting nature of potentially signing the NBA’s biggest names. 2021 could create that kind of hysteria.