The NBA has attempted to crack down on teams tampering with opposing players in recent years. After a wave of punishments, the league and the NBPA are expected to revisit rules around tampering with pending free agents.
The NBA pushed the start of the free agent negotiating period up to 6:00 PM ET on June 30. This was after years of free agency opening at midnight on July 1, with many deals being agreed to immediately upon free agency opening. That six-hour head start still hasn’t proven to be enough for many teams.
The league voided an agreed-to deal between the Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings in the 2020 offseason, because the teams got an early jump on the negotiations. The Bucks were forced to forfeit a second-round pick for tampering with Bogdan Bogdanovic, who was set to be a restricted free agent.
The Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat were also forced to forfeit second-round picks after jumping the gun on free agent negotiations. The Bulls and Heat had agreed to sign-and-trade deals too early with Lonzo Ball and Kyle Lowry, respectively.
This week, the NBA took away two second-round picks from the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers were punished after they were found to have reached early agreements with P.J. Tucker and Danuel House Jr. In addition, the league is still in the midst of an investigation into the New York Knicks signing of Jalen Brunson.