Spencer Dinwiddie Says NBA Wouldn’t Mind if Lakers or Knicks Tampered

Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie has highlighted the cynicism of the NBA’s new zero tolerance policy on tampering.

Via the New York Post, Spencer Dinwiddie accused the NBA of taking the rules seriously to help big-market teams.

The NBA’s decision to increase fines and enforce the rules strictly is an effort to create a “culture of compliance”.

“You mean when non-traditional powers like the Nets and the Clippers win?” Dinwiddie asked.

“What you’re saying is, if it’d been the Lakers and the Knicks that won it wouldn’t be a problem, but because it’s the Clippers and the Nets that won it’s an issue? You said it, not me.”

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It’s hard not to think that Spencer Dinwiddie has a point. Tampering has been prevalent in the NBA for years.

However, when Paul George joins the Clippers, and Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant join the Nets, rather than the Lakers or the Knicks, the league sprung into action.

The new rules will theoretically level the playing field for small and mid-sized market teams. While the Clippers and the Nets operate in big markets, they are the also rans of those markets. Once they figured out a way to compete, they had the goalposts moved on them.

The NBA passed stricter tampering rules last Friday, and showed it was serious by fining the Milwaukee Bucks this week.

In an objectively harsh decision, the Bucks were fined following GM Jon Horsts comments that Giannis Antetokounmpo will be offered a supermax contract once he is eligible next year.

Read: Milwaukee Bucks Fined $50,000 by NBA for Tampering

From a marketing perspective, it would be better for the league if the reigning MVP would join a team like the Lakers rather than remain in Milwaukee.

Giannis is one NBA star who will hit free agency in 2021. He will be joined by LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Bradley Beal and Paul George. Keep an eye on which teams are impeded from doing business with those players, and which teams are not.