Antetokounmpo is not eligible for a contract extension of any kind until after the seasonNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
The NBA has fined the Bucks $50,000 for saying publicly that Giannis Antetokounmpo "would be offered a 'supermax' extension from the team next summer," marking the league's "first warning shot in its war against tampering," according to Sopan Deb of the N.Y. TIMES. The fine comes after a BOG meeting last week in N.Y. in which the topic of tampering "dominated discussions." Usually, tampering "refers to league rules prohibiting players, coaches and front-office executives from enticing an athlete under contract with another team to come play for their franchise." The Bucks' fine is "unusual because it involves a player and his current team." Essentially, the Bucks, "from the league's telling, violated a rule prohibiting self-tampering" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/25). In Milwaukee, JR Radcliffe writes the fine has "surely garnered a few eye rolls" among the Bucks' fan base. The Bucks "apparently can't say" what the their intentions with Antetokounmpo are, "even though it's a no-brainer" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 9/25).
SET THE TONE: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said for league tampering rules to be successful, people "have to believe that the consequences of being caught will far outweigh any benefit they see from not following" them. Silver said, "There needs to be -- maybe more important, even, than the penalty -- a true stigma around cheating. ... No one wants to be viewed as having had to cheat to win. And I think what we saw was that it was a slippery slope over time, and people no longer saw themselves as violating our rules." He added, "A lot of what we're trying to do is make a cultural shift in this league, and I believe we can do that successfully because I believe teams want to compete on a level playing field." Silver: "There are no silver bullets here. There isn't any one aspect of the package where we came in to say, 'This will fix the problem.' ... It's going to change by teams seeing that it's not just that the league office means business, but the people at the top in these organizations, these governors, when they're putting their names on a contract, they really want to believe that what they're signing is accurate and there has been nothing inappropriate that is done in order to sign that player" (THEATHLETIC.com, 9/23).
MAINTAINING AN IMAGE: ESPN's Rachel Nichols said, "I do understand the idea of this culture of compliance issue that Adam is talking about and while I don't agree with some of the letter of the law, I do agree with the spirit of some of the laws that they're putting in here or sharpening up." Nichols said fans finding out about free agency deals being agreed to before players could officially talk to teams is "sending a message to everyone that the league's rules don't matter." ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski said there was "more of a brazenness the last year or two that teams, agents didn't worry that if the agreements got out that there would be consequences." He said, "Now they know there will be consequences and if there are agreements in place, they'll keep a tighter lid on it" ("The Jump," ESPN, 9/24).
TWITTER REAX: ESPN's Mark Jones: "The league ain't playin when it comes to tampering." Yahoo Sports' Keith Smith: "Bucks broke the rules and were fined. Should they have? I'm not sure." Milwaukee-based WTMJ-NBC's Lance Allan: "Seems ticky tacky but the Commish cracking down on all levels and forms of tampering." Milwaukee-based WISN-ABC's Stephen Watson: "NBA took the low hanging fruit on this one to send a message to the rest of the league." Denver-based KKFN-FM's Shawn Drotar: "I’m pretty sure that ensuring fans that you want to sign your own player doesn’t violate the spirit of tampering rules." SB Nation's Harrison Faigen: "The most surprising thing about the Bucks getting fined for tampering with their own player today is that Magic somehow did not get fined for that over like 2 whole years with the Lakers. Nice restraint!"
