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The Los Angeles Lakers have found themselves in a precarious situation with an investigation centered around possible tampering involving All-Star forward Paul George prior to the Indiana Pacers moving him to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In light of that, an anonymous player agent recently told The Ringer that he believes that Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, who is a former NBA agent, knows how to work his way around the system.
“Pelinka for sure knows how to tamper without getting caught,” one agent said. “Pelinka will do whatever it takes to get players. Magic could easily have done something dumb and got caught for it, though.”
That said, this case isn't centered around Pelinka but rather Magic Johnson. There is some belief that he may have been involved in a manner that could cause the league to take some action. This could lead to a stiff punishment being handed out with loss of draft picks, fines up to $5 million, or possibly more restrictions on the Lakers acquiring him via free agency or a trade.
It is a sticky situation that the Lakers find themselves in that could hurt the franchise drastically with the ultimate price being rendered unable to sign George next summer if he chooses to join the team.
There has been clear interest from the Lakers in bringing George aboard, as he had made it clear a few months ago that he wants to come to Los Angeles in free agency next summer. In response, the front office has nearly cleared out enough salary cap space to ink players to max contracts. These allegations have a lot at stake for the Lakers that could have a major impact on their long-term future.
