Tampering expected in Orlando where Giannis and Raptors will share a hotel
Whether the NBA likes it or not, July is likely to be the start of NBA tampering season.
By mid-July, the NBA is expected to have nearly 400 NBA players cooped up in three Orlando hotels. Take just the Gran Destino Tower at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, for example. The Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, and Toronto Raptors will all be stationed at the hotel for at least six weeks until the playoffs begin, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania.
That means Masai Ujiri, Nick Nurse, and the entire Toronto Raptors contingent will be sharing a hotel with potential 2021 free agent Giannis Antetokounmpo. It means players chitchatting about their futures together either over text or face to face in hallways and around the Orlando campus.
“Oh, it will be tamperpalooza in Orlando! That’s for sure," one NBA staffer reportedly told The Athletic's Ethan Strauss.
Strauss said he expects almost all of the remaining teams' general manager to be in Orlando planning out the next two offseasons as 2020 gives way to the crucial summer of 2021.
It's something the league can be naive to if it wants, but if the past few offseasons are any indication of how much NBA players talk off the court, there is going to be a lot of tampering going on in Orlando.
Remember Raptors fans: Disney World is where dreams come true.
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- Aaron Rose covers the Toronto Raptors and Canadian basketball for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter @aaronbenrose or on Facebook @AllRaptors.
