The Los Angeles Lakers have found themselves at the center of an investigation involving possible tampering charges in regards to All-Star forward Paul George prior to being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In light of that, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post believes there is a sense that the Lakers will receive a light, if any, punishment for the situation.

Still, it would be a surprise if the Lakers or Johnson get anything more than a slap on the wrist, or any punishment at all.

The NBA has hired an outside law firm to investigate the matter involving Johnson and the Lakers, meaning the investigation isn’t going to stop at that offhand comment. But proving more occurred will be difficult. The Lakers already employed two players — Julius Randle and the since-traded D’Angelo Russell — who are represented by George’s agent, Aaron Mintz from Creative Artists Agency. Any phone conversations between those two sides would be difficult to prove as nefarious and leading toward a future George deal.

At this point, it seems extremely difficult for the league to prove that the Lakers, and primarily Magic Johnson, committed anything that could be considered as tampering. This would require them to prove that the phone call that Johnson had with George's agent Aaron Mintz, who is also Julius Randle and D'Angelo Russell's representative, was about the All-Star forward.

All of this gives off the notion that the NBA doesn't have a concrete case against the Lakers, but rather some situations that could suggest it may have happened. There would need to be plenty more evidence outside of a phone call that was made.

Ultimately, the Lakers may be able to get through this entire situation nearly unscathed.