NBA's Reason for Fining Bucks for Tampering With Giannis is the Weakest Thing We've Ever Heard

With the 2020 NBA free agent class being relatively weak, many are looking ahead to the 2021 class-- including Bucks GM Jon Horst. On Tuesday, the NBA fined Horst for publicly announcing that the team will offer their most prized asset, reigning league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, a supermax contract before he officially hits free agency that summer.

The league is claiming that Horst violated tampering rules because the contract was technically being offered prior to the conclusion of Giannis' seventh season.

It's pretty absurd that of all the potential tampering that's happened over the past couple seasons, this is what the NBA is choosing to focus on. The league did nothing about the Klutch Sports-Anthony Davis drama, or Kawhi Leonard's discussions with Paul George prior to this summer's free agency. But a small-market GM talking about the team's future plans with their own franchise player is where the line is crossed?

Yes, the Bucks did technically violate the rules as written. But the NBA putting focus on this relatively minor incident seems to be compensation for ignoring major tampering cases that have almost certainly gone down before. If the league can't decipher what needs to be addressed most promptly and forcefully, they might as well not implement any tampering laws at all.