Shortly after the NBA announced that it had fined the Lakers’ $500K for violating the league’s anti-tampering policy, Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said that his club accepted the NBA’s findings. However, a report over the weekend suggested that Pacers owner Herb Simon may consider separate legal action against the league and the Lakers.
Issuing a formal statement today via the Pacers’ website, Simon insisted that’s not the case, indicating that he and the franchise are content with the league’s decision.
“Contrary to a published report, I would like to emphatically state that neither I nor the Indiana Pacers have ever considered any legal action toward the NBA or the Los Angeles Lakers regarding the recent decision and penalty concerning tampering charges,” Simon said. “We agree with the NBA’s findings and we want to put this issue behind us.
“Even though the Pacers were put in a tough position, we feel extremely fortunate to end up with two exceptional players in Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. Their youth and talent, when coupled with our returning players and other players acquired over the summer, offer tremendous promise for our franchise and our fans.”
As we detailed on Tuesday, Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson has offered to pay the team’s $500K fine out of his own salary, despite the fact that the franchise was technically penalized for GM Rob Pelinka‘s prohibited expression of interest in Paul George to agent Aaron Mintz. Johnson also spoke publicly about George during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, but the NBA only issued the Lakers a warning for Johnson’s comments.
Lmao I guess “tremendous promise” means the 8th seed and not getting any picks for Paul George
they were the 7th seed with him
Good riddance! He was over paid…choker!