Report: NBA Will Investigate Possible Tampering Violations in Kyle Lowry Sign-and-Trade

The NBA is once again looking to expose the league's worst-kept secret.

According to reporting from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne, the league has opened an investigation into possible tampering violations in the Miami Heat's sign-and-trade with the Toronto Raptors for Kyle Lowry. The league will also investigate the New Orleans Pelicans and Chicago Bull's sign-and-trade for Lonzo Ball.

Reporting with @RamonaShelburne on ESPN: The NBA has opened up investigations into possible tampering violations involving two sign-and-trade deals completed in free agency: New Orleans and Chicago centered on Lonzo Ball, and Toronto and Miami centered on Kyle Lowry. Story soon.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 7, 2021

NBA teams were not permitted to begin discussing contracts with players until 6 p.m. ET on August 2. Once the clock struck 6 p.m., somehow all kinds of negotiations were miraculously completed in a matter of minutes. The Ball deal was first reported at 6:00 p.m. ET by Shams Charania, literally seconds into the league's legal tampering period.

Lonzo Ball has agreed to a four-year, $85 million deal with the Chicago Bulls, CEO of Klutch Sports Rich Paul tells @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 2, 2021

Weird...

While the Lowry deal took some time to work out, the details of the deal were reported prior to 6 p.m. on August 2 and other teams including the Dallas Mavericks and Pelicans had already begun moving onto their backup plans having concluded Lowry was destined for Miami.

Last year, the NBA stripped the Milwaukee Bucks of a second-round pick for tampering violations in their attempt to lure Bogdan Bogdanovic away from the Sacramento Kings in a sign-and-trade that eventually fell apart. The Kings, however, who eventually lost Bogdanovic to the Atlanta Hawks were not punished.

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