Bulls And Heat Fans Are Angry Their Teams Are Being Investigated For Tampering And Not LeBron James Or The Lakers

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Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls fans are not happy with the NBA at the moment.

On Saturday afternoon it was reported that the league is investigating both the Heat and the Bulls for their sign and trade deals last week.

Via ESPN

The NBA has opened investigations into possible tampering violations involving two sign-and-trade deals completed in free agency, Chicago’s acquisition of New Orleans’s Lonzo Ball and Miami’s acquisition of Toronto’s Kyle Lowry, sources told ESPN on Saturday.

The NBA’s probe will examine illegal contact among teams and players ahead of the opening of free agency on Monday at 6 p.m. ET, sources told ESPN. Team executives, players agents and players have been notified of the opening of the league office’s investigations, sources said.

Sign-and-trade arrangements are more complicated and time-consuming than typical free-agent player signings, often needing a greater level of discussion and negotiation to complete.

New Orleans agreed to trade Ball, a restricted free agent, to Chicago on a four-year, $85 million contract for Garrett Temple on a new three-year, $15.5 million contract and guard Tomas Satoransky. That deal has yet to be finalized with the league office and could look different in its final form, sources said.

Miami negotiated a three-year, $85 million deal with Lowry in the sign-and-trade that sent guard Goran Dragic and forward Precious Achiuwa to the Raptors. The Heat guaranteed Dragic’s $19.4 million team option on Sunday, which allowed them to use him in the sign-and-trade deal.

Both Heat and Bulls fans immediately noted that LeBron James and Anthony Davis reportedly met with Russell Westbrook before he was traded to Lakers about playing in LA but the league didn’t look into that.

It is worth noting that the league has found it hard to investigate player-to-player tampering in the past.