Do you realize what would happen if Orlando Magic executive Jeff Weltman were to say something harmlessly obvious like, "Man, oh man, Anthony Davis sure would look good in Magic pinstripes, wouldn't he?"
The wrath of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver would then rain down upon Weltman with a biblical vengeance and furious anger, and the Magic would then be destroyed by the NBA for tampering.
But if the sport's ultimate executive -- in fact, its King, LeBron James -- schemes and scams and choreographs and orchestrates Anthony Davis' departure from the lowly New Orleans Pelicans to the high-and-mighty Los Angeles Lakers, then that's just fine and dandy with the NBA.
Anything LeBron wants, LeBron gets.
It doesn't take a forensics expert to see that this heist-in-progress has LeBron's fingerprints all over it. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago LeBron had a nice, cozy dinner with Davis after the Lakers played the Pelicans in L.A.? Now, suddenly, Davis comes out this week and publicly announces he is not going to re-sign with the Pelicans and wants to be traded. And, what a surprise, Davis' agent is none other than Rich Paul, who also happens to be LeBron's agent and boyhood buddy.
Paul runs a management agency called Klutch Sports, which has raised eyebrows for quite some time in regard to whether LeBron has some sort of clandestine stake in the company. This, of course, would constitute a clear conflict of interest if the King had equity in a company that represents players on other NBA teams. A couple of years ago the NBA reportedly investigated whether LeBron had any ownership in Klutch Sports and determined he did not.
How do you think that investigation went?
NBA: "LeBron, do you have any financial stake in Klutch Sports?"
LeBron: "No."
NBA: "Sounds good. Case closed!"
The Pelicans have certainly made it clear they believe LeBron should be investigated more closely for his role in Davis' trade demand. It was just a few weeks ago when Pelicans head Coach Alvin Gentry accused LeBron of meddling after the Lakers superstar responded to a question by saying it would be "amazing" and "incredible" playing alongside Davis in Los Angeles.
And then, after Davis made his trade demand earlier this week, the Pelicans released a statement in which they called upon the league to "strictly enforce the tampering rules associated with this transaction."
Translation: Hey, NBA, are you just going to let LeBron completely make a mockery of your tampering rules?
You see, there's a misconception that players are not subject to tampering rules, but, technically, that's not the case. In a thoroughly researched article for SI.com, University of New Hampshire law professor Michael McCann points out the NBA's tampering rules refer to "an owner, general manager, coach, scout, referee or player attempting to persuade a player, coach, trainer, general manager or any other person who is under contract with another team to join the tampering team."
Although the NBA traditionally looks the other way and has never charged a player with tampering, the fact is there has never been another player who wields the influence and wantonly circumvents the tampering rules like LeBron does. Writes McCann: "What is less clear is how the NBA would react to a player using an agent to pressure another team into trading a player who is under contract. If, hypothetically, James has convinced Paul to guide Davis out of New Orleans and towards the Lakers, the league may view the situation from a far more scrutinizing light."
Here's hoping the league does its due diligence and investigates this matter thoroughly, but does anybody really believe that will happen? Does anybody really believe the NBA will hold LeBron accountable?
Sports on 02/02/2019