Just one day away from the start of a highly anticipated regular season slate, second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls also have another major looming storyline this fall. The Bulls head into the regular season with a looming tampering investigation from the NBA into the sign-and-trade deal that went down with the New Orleans Pelicans two months ago to land point guard Lonzo Ball.
The former restricted free agent and UCLA Bruins star was a big-time target of the Bulls since the trade deadline last season. And the Bulls were able to finally get their elusive point guard of the future locked in by signing Lonzo down to a four-year contract worth a little north of $80 million in total.
But it was the method in which the Bulls’ front office went out to sign Lonzo that has the NBA suspicious about potential tampering that took place in this deal. And it really looks like the NBA is ready to make an example out of a team like the Bulls.
Chicago Bulls still under tampering investigation from the Lonzo Ball sign and trade
NBA commissioner Adam Silver says the tampering investigations into sign-and-trades completed by Miami (Kyle Lowry) and Chicago (Lonzo Ball) are "ongoing."
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 18, 2021
The NBA commissioner Adam Silver reportedly stated that the investigations in the sign and trade deal between the Bulls and Pelicans involving Lonzo, along with the one the Miami Heat got done to land point guard Kyle Lowry, are “ongoing”. It’s hard to tell how this timeline could play out, but it could cost the Bulls some future draft capital.
If this was an investigation that was going to null-and-void the deal for the Bulls to sign Lonzo completely, there would be more concrete punishments in place already. Thus, it’s likely that the next punishment in line for the Bulls could be the loss of a draft pick.
Granted, that’s more speculation than anything. We don’t know of any concrete thoughts that the NBA has on punishment in this investigation at this point.
Given all of the draft capital that the Bulls have already lost since the trade deadline last season, losing another pick would hurt this franchise. But it looked like this was a risk worth taking for executive vice president of basketball operations and general manager Marc Eversley at the outset of the free agency negotiation window.
Lonzo and the Bulls just wrapped up the preseason slate on Oct. 15 with a win at home at the United Center over the Memphis Grizzlies in the finale. The regular season opener is set for Oct. 20 on the road against the Detroit Pistons.