Report: Los Angeles Lakers being investigated for tampering over Paul George

The NBA is looking into whether the Los Angeles Lakers have tried to recruit Paul George a little too hard and too early

The worst kept secret in the NBA is the expectation that Oklahoma City Thunder star Paul George will be in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform after this season. However, the NBA is looking into whether the Lakers were a little too aggressive in their recruitment of George according to Peter Vecsey.

Vecsey is reporting the NBA has asked for documentation from owner Jeanie Buss, president Magic Johnson and GM Rob Pelinka for correspondence regarding George, his parents and George’s agent Aaron Mintz.

Mintz met with Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard to let them know that George was planning on leaving the Pacers after the upcoming season. The Pacers got what they could sending George to the Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.

George will now team up with Russell Westbrook which should be a fun watch all season long, unless Oklahoma City decides to flip him at the trade deadline, but that’s another story for another day.

The Lakers have been re-tooling their roster for expiring contracts in order to make a splash in free agency after the upcoming season when players like George and LeBron James will be free agents. It’s one of the reasons why they traded D’Angelo Russell with Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez.

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If the Pacers are alleging the Lakers tampered, they have to have some sort of evidence to prove that the Lakers influenced George’s decision which then influenced the Pacers to move him instead of potentially losing him for nothing.

UPDATE: The NBA has announced they are indeed investigating the Lakers for tampering.

In order for the Lakers to be charged with tampering, there has to be some sort of smoking gun. I really doubt that this will happen, but if the NBA were to find some sort of evidence, the Lakers could be in a ton of trouble.