Despite the recent weekend news of allegations against the Los Angeles Lakers for tampering with the NBA's policy of permissible and impermissible contact between the franchise and former Indiana Pacers forward Paul George, these have been in place since the NBA Draft, according to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.

While the media was busy with the free agent craze and the shakedown of the Cleveland Cavaliers, its front office and Kyrie Irving's trade request; the Pacers were not happy with the way the Lakers had gone about trying to acquire George and claimed grievance after their suspicion.

Los Angeles quickly released a statement displaying their cooperation with the league and the hope of being cleared of this allegation.

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“As the NBA's statement made clear, we cannot comment about the specifics of any ongoing investigation,” the Lakers said in a statement. “We can confirm, however, that we are cooperating fully with the NBA in the hope of clearing our name as soon as possible.”

This probe, which has been mainly focused around president Magic Johnson, first took place in the league office around June, which if proven true that the Lakers tampered with George while he was under contract with Indiana, can cost the team a myriad of potential punishments.

The Lakers can possibly suffer a loss of draft picks, fines up to $5 million, future restrictions on acquiring George once he becomes a free agent in the summer of 2018 and possible suspensions of offending officials, according to the initial report.