No one cares that the Lakers tampered with Paul George two years prior to his free agency, even though everyone assumes it happened. Even though the Pacers filed tampering charges, they have to know the NBA won’t do much more than slap Magic and the Lakers on the wrist, at best.
But all of the leaks during the season about PG’s “people” (agent Aaron Mintz) and the Lakers sharing mutual interest along with instructions not to trade any assets, rubbed the Pacers the wrong way.
As Bob Kravitz reports, the buzz about PG suddenly becoming a life-long Lakers fan (he actually liked the Clippers) started the frustrating series of events that pushed the Pacers to file the charges to raise awareness of the impact all of the “wink, wink” tampering can have on small-market teams.