The results are in. The NBA investigation into the Chicago Bulls over a tampering violation in the Lonzo Ball sign-trade has ended in the forfeiting of the organization’s next available second-round pick.
Here’s the NBA’s 👍ruling on the Lonzo 🍬Ball tampering investigation.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop)
Yes, after all the worry about fines up to $10 million, front office suspensions, and the loss of a future first-round pick, the Chicago Bulls will simply say goodbye to a second-rounder. I’m not not smiling.
So, officially, the Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley got the right to sign Lonzo Ball to a four-year, $80 million deal for …
• Tomas Satoransky
• Garrett Temple
• Two second-round picks
• Cash
Hmm, I think I can live with that!
I can not express how shocked I am that this is the only penalty the Bulls will face, as well as the Miami Heat, for their actions this offseason. To be clear, that isn’t to say I believe there should have been a penalty in the first place (because there shouldn’t be), but there was endless discussion about how the league could look to use this franchise as an example to further discourage future tampering violations. Not to mention, even I couldn’t deny the Ball situation was handled a tad irresponsibly. As silly as the policy may be, it exists for now, and a front office should be more careful about letting a complex sign-and-trade deal leak within seconds of free agency starting.
The league told teams in a memo that both the Bulls and Heat "fully cooperated with the investigations" and that was taken into account when doling out the penalties.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn)
But by slapping the Bulls on the wrist with a second-rounder, I don’t think any of the 29 other organizations have a newfound fear of breaking the rules. Ball has been nothing short of the perfect fit for a Bulls team off to a 14-8 start and sitting second in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the likes of Satoransky and Temple have been nothing more than bench players on a 6-17 Pelicans team averaging just 15.6 minutes and 18.1 minutes per game, respectively.
And what makes this all even funnier is the fact that Chicago’s next second-rounder will not even show up on the board until 2026. Sure, it hurts they don’t have one more asset to possibly throw into a future trade, but acquiring second-rounders can sometimes be done with just a simple wad of cash.
With Bulls/Heat forfeiting next available second round p🐷icks due to tamperin🧸g:
Chicago's next available 2nd rounder is 2026 if the Bulls convey a 1st to Magic by 2024
Miami's next available 2nd rounder is 2024 if it's 31-50. Otherwise, that could go to 2028.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA)
Wow, what an unnecessarily suspenseful ride this has been. Shoutout the to NBA for a rather weak penalty, and shoutout to this Bulls fron🌃t office for killing it yet again.
Ope, and as I click publish, here’s the Bulls statement:
Here’s Bulls statement:
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop)
