NBA investigating Miami Heat for tampering on Lowry sign-and-trade
The NBA has launched an investigation into whether the Miami Heat tampered in its sign-and-trade acquisition of top free agent Kyle Lowry from the Toronto Raptors, according to multiple league sources.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne were first to report that “the NBA has opened up investigations into possible tampering violations involving two sign-and-trade deals completed in free agency: New Orleans and Chicago centered on Lonzo Ball, and Toronto and Miami centered on Kyle Lowry.”
A source confirmed the Heat aspect of that report.
The NBA, the Heat and Lowry’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, all did not offer an immediate comment.
One focus of the investigation is whether there was Heat contact with Lowry on a potential contract before it was permitted to begin at 6 p.m. on Monday.
The Heat was allowed to speak with Toronto about interest in a hypothetical trade before 6 p.m. Monday, but by league rule was not permitted to speak with Lowry or his agent or discuss Heat interest in Lowry or the parameters of a contract before that time.
The Heat exercised Goran Dragic’s $19.4 million team option for next season on the eve of free agency Sunday, which allowed Miami to use him in the sign-and-trade deal.
Several publications, including the Miami Herald and ESPN, reported on Sunday that the Heat was the front-runner to sign Lowry, and ESPN’s Wojnarowski reported Lowry’s new Heat contract within 20 minutes after the 6 p.m. start of free agency.
The trade sent Lowry — an unrestricted free agent — to Miami and Dragic and Precious Achiuwa to Toronto. Lowry signed a three-year, $85 million deal with the Heat on Friday, and the trade was announced simultaneously.
According to a source, multiple Western Conference teams expressed direct interest in Lowry well before the 6 p.m. start of NBA free agency. But that’s not uncommon in NBA circles.
Two years ago, the NBA raised the maximum tampering fine to $10 million and also said that tampering could result in forfeiture of draft picks, suspension of team executives or even voiding of contracts.
Whether the NBA will be able to prove tampering remains in question.
But if it can, the possible voiding of Lowry’s contract would be the worst possible outcome for the Heat, and there is precedent for that.
In 1996, the NBA voided the Heat’s signing of Juwan Howard, but not because of tampering.
The NBA said the Heat miscalculated its available salary under the cap by excluding performance bonuses for Tim Hardaway and P.J. Brown and failing to appropriate sufficient cap space for Alonzo Mourning.
The league rejected the contract because Howard’s $9 million salary for the 1996-97 season placed the Heat over the cap. Howard then re-signed with the Washington Bullets.
After that NBA ruling, Heat president Pat Riley (then also the team’s coach) said: “I spent the weekend at my proctocologist’s trying to remove the NBA’s 17-foot pole out of my rear end.”
Riley said at the time that “even if we took it court and was in court, there was no way we were going to be able to get Juwan Howard back. Basically, there was nothing to fight for other than principle and there was too much at risk.”
Last October, the Sacramento Kings attempted to sign-and-trade Bogan Bogdanović to the Milwaukee Bucks along with Justin James for Donte DiVincenzo, D. J. Wilson, and Ersan İlyasova.
The trade unraveled when the NBA began investigating if the Bucks had contact with Bogdanovic and his agent before the official start of free agency. The Bucks decided not to pursue the trade at that point, but were forced by the NBA to give up a 2022 second-round draft pick and were reportedly fined $50,000.
The NBA commended the Bucks for cooperating with the investigation and also took into account that Bogdanovic was never acquired by the Bucks.
Bogdanovic instead signed with the Atlanta Hawks.
If the NBA nullified the Lowry deal, Dragic and Achiuwa potentially could be returned to the Heat and Miami would not have cap space to improve the roster other than through trades and a $3.6 million bi-annual exception.
The Heat’s 2023 first-round pick is owned by Oklahoma City (with draft protections on that 2023 selection that run until 2026 tying the other years up) so stripping the Heat of draft picks could further deplete Miami’s limited remaining trade assets.
The NBA has the right to confiscate cell phones, and have texts and emails audited as part of its investigation.
This story was originally published August 7, 2021 at 2:45 PM.
