You remember a few days ago when Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant attended Drake’s OVO concert? It seemed rather harmless, but the rapper (ugh) wanted Durant to feel loved in T-Dot so he asked the crowd to let him know what it sound like if he was a member of the Toronto Raptors.
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That proved to be a costly decision as Marc Stein of ESPN is reporting the Raptors are now facing a $25,000 dollar fine from the league.
Oops.
So why the issue? Well, it’s not known (at least publicly) if Drake is on the Toronto Raptors payroll considering he is their ‘Global Ambassador’. What is known though is Drake does allegedly receive money from MLSE, the parent owner of the Toronto Raptors organization.
That apparently is enough ammunition for the league to consider it ‘tampering’ which is why the fine is likely to be imposed.
Hearing Raptors fined $25,000 for comments Drake made at a concert about Kevin Durant that were seen as violation of anti-tampering rules
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 11, 2014
Of course, a $25,000 dollar fine is nothing more than a simple slap on the wrist though it was likely sent out more in effort to curb Drake from doing such again. He likely won’t care much, but the Toronto Raptors certainly don’t want to find themselves shelling out fine after fine because Drake keeps attempting to recruit NBA players to his hometown franchise.
It’s a bit petty on the NBA’s part, certainly, but it fits their style as they’ve been very proactive with fines when it comes to tampering offenses. You may recall just a few seasons back both the Sacramento Kings and Atlanta Hawks were fined for merely mentioning a players name.