As part of the NBA’s new crackdown, the Milwaukee Bucks will be fined $50,000 for tampering. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported the fine only one day after the league made its new tampering rules public.
This comes after a Bucks Town Hall meeting, held on September 12. GM Jon Horst said the team will be offering star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo a supermax deal next year, when he is eligible. Obviously, Milwaukee will pay what it takes to keep one of the best players in the league. But publicly discussing extensions before eligibility is against the rules.
On September 23, the NBA announced new, stricter tampering rules. This slip-up (however obvious it is) falls under the purview, and will cost them. You can read about the new rules here, courtesy of Sports Illustrated.
Tampering has been a hot topic in the NBA of late. The Lakers and Magic Johnson were notorious for both treading on and overstepping the tampering line while discussing who Los Angeles would go after to secure another championship. And that is only one example.
According to NBA rules, players are not eligible for supermax contracts until their seventh season. Antetokounmpo, last year’s league MVP, will be in his seventh season next year and become a free agent. By saying the supermax deal would be offered, he was trying to ensure fans the Bucks intend on keeping him. You can see his answer in full below.
Last year, during “the Greek Freak’s” MVP season, he averaged 27.7 points per game. He also added an average of 12.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists. No defensive slouch, either, he had 1.5 blocks and 1.3 steals per game in 2019, too.
Quite clearly, the Bucks do not want to lose this kind of player. Whether it should have gone without saying, or the NBA is being overzealous with their new rules, however, is up to the reader.
Milwaukee will begin its 2019-2020 campaign on October 24 with a road game against James Harden and the Houston Rockets.
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