The NBA fines Lakers $500K for tampering with Paul George

The Los Angeles Lakers will give some money to the NBA as a compulsory act of good will for tampering with Paul George. It’s nice that they’re getting along.

Say what you want about tampering, but it’s against the rules. Sure, everyone does it. And yeah, it’s really fun. And definitely, winking at Jimmy Kimmel is a natural reflex for some people. None of that makes it okay. When it comes to Paul George, very little is okay.

This cascade of not-okayness has led the league to fine the Lakers $500K.

It’s hard to say whether that’s a lot or a little. It’s less than it could be, with Bobby Marks referencing fines as high as $6,000,000 in this article. People with as little pull as me in NBA disciplinary matters speculated on revoked draft picks or “just kind of letting it go,” but $500,000 is the number, and so the number shall be. That’s as egregious or underwhelming as you want it to be. I’ll leave it to your imagination. Have fun with it.

All one can really do is compare it to fines of the past. For example, The Rockets, among others, were fined for tampering with Dwight Howard during the free agent moratorium in 2013. That fine amounted to $150,000. According to math, that’s less than $500,000. It’s less than a third of $500,000. That means Paul George is more than three times as good as Dwight Howard was then. Or something. Again, we’re in imaginationland. Be careful, or you’ll never leave.

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Regardless, this should be enough to keep people from ever going on late night talk shows again. At best, you get fined. At worst, you have to carry on conversation with Jimmy Fallon. It’s a no-win situation, and it’s one that can be avoided. There is a lesson here, and I’m pretty sure that’s it.