The Los Angeles Lakers were once again in the news for the wrong reason as the NBA investigated the franchise about possible tampering with Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons.
It stemmed from Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson revealing that Simmons contacted him about possibly meeting during the offseason. Johnson said he and the Lakers wanted to go through proper channels with the NBA and Sixers before proceeding.
Considering the Lakers’ recent history, any words about another team’s player and possible contact is bound to set off alarms. However, the league found that the Lakers did nothing wrong and cleared them of all charges.
That didn’t stop some jokes from taking place, at least from the 76ers’ side. Simmons entered the locker room before their game Tuesday night and joked that Johnson had been contacting him all day, via Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia:
Ben Simmons walked into the locker room, sat down and said, "That's like the 10th time Magic has called me today."
After pausing for a second, he clarified that he was, of course, joking.
— Noah Levick (@NoahLevick) February 13, 2019
There is certainly nothing wrong with some jokes from time to time, especially when there was no harm done from the situation overall. There was a lot of talk about the Lakers possibly messing up again, but ultimately there were no issues.
Because it was the Sixers who initiated contact with the Lakers about the potential meeting, and with L.A. immediately contacting general manager Elton Brand, the league found no wrongdoing.
In the end the situation was a minor one with no repercussions, and Simmons just wanted to have a little fun about the story that was the talk of the league for a couple of days.
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