A few weeks back, Los Angeles Lakers legend and current team president, Magic Johnson had some very nice things to say about the Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo.
"He's going to be like an MVP, a champion, this dude he's going to put Milwaukee on the map," Magic told ESPN of the Greek Freak. "And I think he's going to bring them a championship one day."
Compliments from Hall of Famers don't really get much better than that.
Unfortunately for Magic, harmless as his comment may have been, it still wasn't allowed. The league recently fined the Lakers $50K for violating the league's anti-tampering rules as a result of Magic's comments about Giannis. Team executives are not allowed to make public comments about players under contract with another team.
Because of the nature of Magic's comments, and the fact that the Bucks themselves used them in social media posts and such, people were confused about the fine. It seemed a rather strict reading of the rule book. Even Giannis himself didn't understand it. "It was just a compliment. I don't think Magic Johnson was tampering in any way," Giannis said recently. Via USA Today:
"It was just a compliment. I don't think Magic Johnson was tampering in any way," Antetokounmpo said. "I think it was just a compliment towards a player. He was asked about a player and he gave a compliment. I don't know what the rules are, if you get fined for a compliment, you get fined for a compliment."
This certainly didn't seem like a comment where Magic was trying break any rules or influence Giannis to come to the Lakers. He's just a gregarious guy who was asked about the comparison between himself and Giannis, and gave an honest answer.
Luckily for the Lakers, or Magic, or whomever has to pay this fine, they shouldn't have too much trouble coming up with $50K.