The Milwaukee Bucks were stripped of their 2022 second round draft pick as a result of the NBA’s tampering investigation. The NBA found that the Bucks did tamper with Kings restricted free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic.
The NBA has determined the Milwaukee Bucks violated league rules with timing of Bogdan Bogdanovic transaction and will lose their 2022 second-round draft pick, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 21, 2020
The NBA says, "The penalty took into account the Bucks’ cooperation with the investigation, the absence of evidence of any impermissible early agreement on the terms of a contract between the Bucks and Bogdanović, and the fact that the team ultimately did not sign Bogdanović." https://t.co/EgHpmIz1kg
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) December 21, 2020
The penalty is light, it seems, primarily because the Bucks didn’t end up getting Bogdanovic on their roster.
The penalties in this case, as the league's press release suggests, surely would have been more severe had the Bucks gone on to complete a sign-and-trade for Bogdanovic when free agency began … nearly four days after the proposed arrangement with Sacramento was first reported
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) December 21, 2020
Once the NBA opened an investigation, Milwaukee was essentially forced to abandon pursuit of Bogdanovic … someone Giannis Antetokounmpo clearly wanted on the team. That was the real sanction here for the Bucks, who, to their great relief, managed to re-sign Giannis regardless
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) December 21, 2020
Someday we may find out who specifically it was that bragged to Woj early and blew up the deal, but the lack of any punishment for the Kings suggests that Sacramento likely wasn’t to blame.
The real shame for Kings fans is that Bogi ended up leaving for nothing, whereas a sign-and-trade to Milwaukee would have netted the Kings a good young player in Donte DiVincenzo.
It’s a small relief that the Kings seem to be free of any punishment in this fiasco, but if the Kings and Bucks had completed a deal once free agency began, the Kings also may have been opened up to penalties.
Wish they would’ve lost Divincenso to us. A 2nd unit of Haliburton, Donte, Bagley, and Whiteside…with a little GRIII – that would’ve been a ton of fun and actually pretty solid on the defensive end too.
But it seems the punishment does fit the crime because they didn’t end up getting Bogi. The hard part is that it seems the Hawks did the same thing and that every team in the league does this.
I’m just curious how a pick forfeiture works. Does this mean that the 2022 draft will only have 29 picks in the second round?
correct
Shucks, I wish they would’ve given the 2nd round pick to Sacramento.
I don’t understand Bontemps’ statement at all:
If there was no evidence of an early agreement, why were the Bucks penalized?
Does this mean that there are permissable early agreements on the terms of a contract?
Still pissed about not getting DiVincenzo. Milwaukee should have had to sell Sacramento Giannis’ contract for one dollar.
Reads to me like the NBA proved they had begun talks, but that no terms were ever agreed upon
My guess is that this means that nothing was agreed in writing or signed prior to the allowed dates. Thinking back to the Joe Smith / Minnesota fiasco, they were penalized three first rounders, not just because of a wink-wink deal, but that they actually had a secret contract that violated league rules in writing.
(That was some time ago though, so I could be misremembering).
And crickets from those who impulsively called McNair a moron over this. Just spew anything you feel, as fast as you can, with no accountability.
Example?
If you can’t see it, I can’t explain it.
So nothing you can point to that’s impulsive or overreactionary. Just a general desire to ridicule my opinions you disagree with.
First time I spoke of it was after an investigation in which the Kings appear to be exonerated. There were plenty that called McNair incompetent in the first 24 hours. And I don’t see the apologies.
Okie dokie.
Frankly, you could have left off the last three words and covered about 75% of the site.
Whew, it’s a good thing I don’t come here for a lonely, desperate sense of self-validation then.
You should quote them directly and call them out rather than going with your standard passive-aggressive scattergun nonsense!
I’m just curious how the Kings could have been in violation of tampering rules here. That’s the part I really want to know. Otherwise, mostly a nothingburger. The NBA had to do something…..and probably most told Milwaukee to get their shit together.
Same as it ever was.
Kings got screwed on the deal, that sucks. It does clear Monte of any mis-steps in regards to the S&T.
I keep seeing it implied the Kings did something wrong! What? The Kings org had no reason to announce it. They had every reason to wait…. and that’s ignoring the fact that you can’t tamper with your own FA.
I’m still curious as to what the Kings really could have did here. They agreed to a trade in principle with their own FA?!?!?!?!? OH MY GOSH. STOP THE PRESSES.
It’s obvious what happened here. Milwaukee should have never agreed to anything in principle because Bogi’s agent is an asshead. That’s about all of what I learned from this. Unless, of course, there’s some malfeasance that the Kings clearly practiced here that’s really not been articulated not to mention proven.
Can’t help but wonder if there would have been a penalty if it were two large markets involved, or of the deal would have even fallen through in the first place.
I wonder if someone is going to lose their job over this. With someone leaking the story before any negotiations were even set to begin, I’d have to imagine their superiors are a bit pissed about this. From the Bucks standpoint, sure it’s only a 2nd round pick, but that does have value. The real issue here are title aspirations and Giannis’ future. Had the Bucks landed Bogi, their chances likely take an uptick and there was possibly the very real chance Giannis tested free agency.
Just imagine if Giannis had not taken the extension. The leaker of this story might have their head on a pike.
When the deal first fell apart I went over to Brewhoop and they seemed to be putting a lot of the blame on Woj and ‘me first’ breaking news Twitter culture. Something about the timing of Woj’s tweet as a ‘done deal’ vs. others’ reporting is what screwed them more than anything.
Pretty salty over there about this because they’re getting penalized for something everyone does, including (in all likelihood) Atlanta who ended up with Bogi. Not to mention, the usual conspiracy stories about how the NBA secretly wants Giannis in a big market. For the most part, they are letting their FO off the hook on this one.
Not saying that any of these takes are accurate, we all know how fanbases are, but thought it was interesting to note.
It still comes down to someone letting Woj in on the story. I don’t recall any news of a S&T of a RFA in years past breaking before the moratorium. There might be rumors of interest, but nothing to the detail of the Bucks and Kings deal that even listed the moving parts.
Woj was just doing his job as a reporter. Any of them would have done it if they had the info.
I don’t disagree. But to play devil’s advocate– undoubtedly there have been RFA S&T’s in the past that were agreed in principle during the moratorium. In those previous instances, were the front offices tight enough to prevent any leaks whatsoever? Or are reporters informed by their sources ‘off the record’ and just hold off on breaking the news until it’s safe to do so.
i could see a scenario where there was some miscommunication between Woj and his source about how on the record this was. Particularly since according to Bogi’s agent there really wasn’t a deal.
Personally, I also think that the bulk of this is on the Milwaukee FO. But Woj did drive past some obvious warning signs. He apparently didn’t think it was remarkable that he was a reporting on a deal done before free agency. Nor, if we’re to believe Bogi’s agent, did he did he dig deep enough to be accurate about how far along the deal really was.
I think the most likely scenario is that there was a framework of a deal. Source mis-characterized it as essentially being ‘done’. Woj reported is as done. They both apparently forgot that tampering was an actual thing. Atlanta came with a better offer once they saw the reporting and calculated the numbers. Bogi’s agent says ‘yes please’ and announces that there was never a done deal with Milwaukee.
Pretty sure Bogi’s agent saying there wasn’t a deal was an attempt to cover up the tampering. If there wasn’t actually a deal, and Mil and Bogi never communicated, then I don’t think there would be any punishment here. That would just be Woj misreporting.
But in the investigation Mil must have fessed up to the crime.
I was never certain about whether it would be tampering if Bogi and Mil worked out contract terms if they each only spoke to the Kings. Because discussing a trade between Sac and Mil should be fine. And the Kings discussing a contract extension with Bogi that Mil would be happy with should also be fine, because he is the Kings’ player. It’s only a problem if Bogi and Mil directly speak to each other, which it seems they did. Maybe I’m wrong about this.
It’s obvious that Milwaukee and Bogi had some framework worked out, otherwise why bring in the Kings at all. Where I slightly disagree is that I don’t think Bogi’s agent saying there was never a deal was to cover up the tampering (the jig was up at that point) as much as it was pretext for him signing with Atlanta for more money instead. But that’s just speculation on my part.
The announcement was made before the moratorium. DURING LAST SEASON. And technically the Kings had Bogi under contract. The news leaked Monday, the moratorium didnt happen until the following Friday. The draft took place the Wednesday in between. It could have been announced during the moratorium once Friday hit. THAT’S the point of this tampering charge.
The timing and how much Bogi’s deal was for were always suspect. Any way you want to slice it.
The point of the charge is not in question. The hair that I’m splitting is where and how exactly the breakdown occurred, and how such an obvious failure could occur.
FWIW, I think Bogi’s agent double crossed them when Atl’s offer improved. Because of this:
I thought then the numbers were suspect not to mention the timing (announcing a S&T so early is just dumb). I wonder if Bogi’s agent was ever serious about Milwaukee and just leaked the deal intentionally to get a better offer from Atl. Based on your comments, I’ll bet you agree with this, too.
Last but not least, I think the Bucks FO got played. Pure and simple. I think we agree there, too.
Personally I would have agreed to the deal provided that it could be kept quiet until Friday. If not, we can’t do business. But as others have mentioned, I think the Jrue Holiday trade changed things. And boom goes the S&T.
I actually hadn’t seriously considered Bogi’s agent as the possible leak If he deliberately did that and just used Mil to flush out some better offers, and cost them a pick in the process, that would be some truly underhanded shit.
Agents will do what they can for their clients. That includes slimy, underhanded shit. And, hell, teams do shady shit, too. Unfortunately this little incident cost the Kings because it required the agreement of 3 parties, and one of those parties was likely to never agree to terms push come to shove. And unfortunately one of those parties didn’t really understand the stakes of the game. And so it goes.
This is a bigger deal for the Bucks than it is the Kings IMO. Bogi could have been a great piece for them off the bench even if he’s not necessarily at his best in that role.
There will be one player who is not drafted because of this… That’s unfair to incoming players.
If a player has an opportunity to make it as a 58th pick, he can make it as an undrafted player.
Its ok for the NBA to tamper with the Kings business though right? In the end, it comes down to the Association likes to screw small market teams. There would never been any consequences if something like this happened between New York and L.A.
That 2nd round pick should be awarded to the Kings. They were the injured party in the tampering.
My apologies Kosta, I hadn’t read the comments yet. You are right. That pick should go,to the Kings in my mind to.
Fully disagree on the ‘owing’ part JP. The NBA does not owe the Kings anything here. You do S&Ts at your own risk. Make better decisions if you want better outcomes, essentially. It’s not the NBAs fault the Kings switched FOs.
The Kings knew they couldn’t trade Bogi until the Moratorium was lifted. What happened was bad luck in the Bucks FO not being up to the task at hand and a bad actor in Bogi’s agent, and Bogi to a large degree if we’re being honest, and what not. That isn’t the NBA s problem in any way.
Engage in fruitful and beneficial relationships if you expect to receive more value in the future. Simple, this is, IMO.
Any chance this could be because by all accounts when Vlade was here, it was leading to Bogi getting a pay day. Since he wasn’t going to get as much of a pay day potentially as first thought, perhaps Bogi’s manager was salty about it and deliberately screwed over the Kings?
Atlanta played it shrewd (good on them), however I have a feeling it will bite them in the ass at some point.
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