Lakers under investigation
The Los Angeles Lakers are being investigated by the NBA for tampering with Paul George while he was still a member of the Indiana Pacers.
The NBA released a statement on Sunday saying that it was investigating alleged tampering violations by the Los Angeles Lakers in regard to Paul George.
According to a report from Peter Vescey, Indiana filed a formal complaint with the NBA claiming the Lakers had impermissible contact with George while he was still a member of the Pacers. Lakers president of basketball operations Magic
Johnson is reportedly at the center of the probe, according to ESPN's Adrian
Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelbourne.
George was traded to the Thunder on June
30 for Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo. From the end of the season until the days before the July 1 free agency period, the Pacers were reportedly involved in trade discussions for George with multiple teams including the Lakers, Celtics, and Cavaliers.
On Sunday afternoon, Mike Bass, the NBA's executive vice president of communications, issued a statement saying the league was conducting an independent investigation of the alleged tampering at the Pacers' request. The investigation is being conducted by the law firm Wachtell, Liption, Rosen & Katz.
"The Lakers have been cooperative and, at this point, no findings have been made," Bass said in the statement. "We have asked both teams to refrain from commenting while the investigation is ongoing."
Teams are not allowed to make contact with players or their agents until July 1 of their free agency year. Even if George was still a member of the Pacers on July 1, he still would have had another year on his contract remaining, thus making it impossible for a potential suitor to talk to him about his future.
In June, George's agent, Aaron Mintz, was upfront with the Pacers, telling the franchise about George's intention to become a free agent in 2018 and that the four-time AllStar would not be returning to Indiana. George, a native of Palmdale, Calif., which is about 1½ hours north of Los Angeles, has had reported interest in playing for the Lakers.
In April, Johnson was asked on the Jimmy Kimmel Show if a player like George or Chris Paul was on his radar.
"I wish I could talk about all those guys," said Johnson, who was quickly reminded by Kimmel it would be contract tampering to talk openly about those players.
"I had to go to CBA school, salary cap school and tampering school. You can't tamper with somebody else's player."
Per ESPN, the Lakers are denying the tampering allegations and expect to be cleared following the NBA's investigation.
Report: Winger offered Clippers GM job
The Los Angeles Clippers have reportedly offered Thunder assistant general manager/team counsel Michael Winger its GM position.
Wojnarowski reported Sunday that a deal could be finalized soon between Clippers and the Thunder executive. Winger, 37, has been with the Thunder the past seven seasons, working alongside general manager Sam Presti and assistant general manager Troy Weaver.
The Clippers went through significant change in its front office this offseason, adding Jerry
West as a consultant and promoting Lawrence Frank to president of basketball operations. Head coach Doc
Rivers was the previous president of basketball operations before he was stripped of his duties this summer so he could focus on coaching.
Dave Wohl is listed as the Clippers' current general manager, but he's served in more of an advisory role to Rivers, who had the final say in personnel decisions. Winger, who per Wojnarowski would report directly to Frank, would presumably absorb some of Rivers' previous responsibilities.
The Thunder has a history of having assistant general managers hired by other teams to become general managers. Rich Cho was hired away by Portland in 2010, and Rob Hennigan was hired by Orlando in 2012. Both were fired, but Cho has landed in Charlotte as the Hornets' GM.
Weaver's name has popped up numerous times in recent seasons as a potential GM candidate, as recently as this summer with Atlanta.