"But you hired him literally weeks before free agency opened" - NBA insider discusses potential reasons behind tampering probes against New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers
The New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers have recently come under the NBA's spotlight for potentially violating tampering laws. With both franchises under investigation, NBA insider Howard Beck joined Chris Mannix on "The Crossover" to shed light on the situation.
The NBA has seen several cases of tampering over the last few years. Considering the mild penalties incurred for tampering, Beck and Mannix discussed how flawed the laws were in deterring the action.
NEW @TheCrossover Pod w/@HowardBeck open.spotify.com/episode/1UbhVb…
More importantly, however, they shed light on the situation surrounding the Knicks and 76ers.
With reference to the Knicks pursuing Jalen Brunson, Beck highlighted how blatant some of the moves they made were.
While first speaking about how Julius Randle and Knicks executives were seen at a Mavs-Jazz game, Beck mentioned the June 2 hiring of assistant coach Rick Brunson. He said:
"Rick Brunson hadn't been an NBA assistant for four years. He'd been out of the league. I understand that he's a Thibs guy (Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau). I understand he has a long-standing relationship. But you hired him literally weeks before free agency opened, and everybody knew who your top target was."
He also highlighted the situation with the Philadelphia 76ers. In a specific reference to Harden's contract allowing the team to pursue P.J. Tucker in free agency, he said:
"So, there's actually two potential violations there. One is tampering. Because, if you were able to set up having Harden take a pay cut in his new contract - he opted out, so, there's a bunch of steps there."
He added:
"So, you have to set all that up in advance so that you could then know you would have the flexibility available to get P.J. Tucker and Danuel House. So, that's the tampering part. It's arranging things before July 1st to settle this up."
Beck then mentioned the potential handshake agreement between Harden and the 76ers that would see him compensated in the future. While speculating a four-year max-deal to compensate Harden in the future, however, Beck referred to it as a blatant cap violation.
Penalties for potential violations by the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers
The violations by the New York Knicks were pretty well discussed on "The Crossover" by Chris Mannix and Howard Beck alike. The Philadelphia 76ers have come under fire for tampering on two fronts. The first is the issue of acquiring P.J. Tucker in the offseason.
Tucker, who was signed as a free agent using the taxpayer midlevel exception, was supposedly in contact with the Philadelphia 76ers ahead of free agency opening. This became an additional issue considering the multiyear contract he demanded, which only became available after James Harden took a massive pay cut.
ESPN Sources: The NBA has opened an investigation into the Philadelphia 76ers for possible tampering and early contact centered on franchise’s summer free agency class of James Harden, P.J. Tucker and Danuel House. Sixers have begun cooperating with league on probe. Story soon.
Considering the nature of the dealings, there were some rumors regarding a future payout as compensation for Harden's decision to take a pay cut as well.
twitter.com/ClutchPointsAp…
Daryl Morey himself recently described his level of teamwork with James Harden as a "lovefest" and this deal would certainly back that up.
The $15 MM pay cut to help facilitate signing P.J. Tucker and more ... expected.
But a two-year deal for Harden rather than three ... 👀 twitter.com/ClutchPointsAp…
With the Philadelphia 76ers securing P.J. Tucker and Danuel House in free agency, the penalty incurred for an actual violation also remains up for question. A similar case emerges between Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks.
As Mannix mentioned in his podcast, the penalties do little to deter organizations from engaging in such activities. Whether this becomes a valid reason to change the laws or to amend them, however, is a different argument.