NBA Passes Stricter Package To Enforce Compliance Regarding Tampering Rules

On Friday, the NBA Board of Governors passed a stricter package of provisions to enforce compliance with tampering and salary cap circumvention with a unanimous vote. NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the rules changes at a press conference and stating there “need to be consequences” when rules are violated.

According to Sports Illustrated, Silver said the “ultimate goal [of the new rules] is compliance.” He added fining teams can often be the least effective way to enforce compliance, stating the league is now willing to suspend executives, take away draft picks and void contracts for teams that do not follow with the new anti-tampering rules.

Tampering became a popular topic this summer after several deals, for example, Kevin Durant’s four-year deal with Brooklyn, which hit the media within minutes of teams legally being allowed to negotiate them, while most of free agency was finished within a span of 24 hours. Following league rules, players and teams were not allowed to negotiate deals until 6 pm ET on June 30th, however many were signed and completed shortly after the period opened.

The changes come after the NBA sent a memo to teams earlier this month about improving compliance in an effort to crack down on tampering. The league had reportedly proposed that a lead team operations member annually certify that the organization did not engage in impermissible free agency talks. The publication states the NBA also proposed significantly raising maximum fine amounts for violations concerning tampering and cap circumvention in hopes of preventing both issues.

The maximum fine for tampering with a player or team personnel would now go from $5M to $10M, according to the proposal, and fines for unauthorized agreements could extend as high as $6M for a team and $250K for an individual player.

The league also proposed increased enforcement of existing rules prohibiting player-to-player tampering as well as requiring each team governor to certify that no unauthorized benefits were offered or provided. NBA owners would also then have to personally certify that every contract complies with all rules and teams would be required to report within 24 hours a player/agent soliciting unauthorized benefits or contact regarding contract matters. Also adding investigatory audits of five teams at random annually, were also on the table according to the report.

Silver also confirmed that he now has the ability to take people’s communication devices if he chooses to do so under the new rules as well. He clarified multiple times that he “does not want to take people’s devices” but didn’t say it won’t happen.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, it’s still unclear how much of the complete proposal was approved in the Board of Governor’s meeting as there had been apprehension about approving the random team audits.