The trade between the Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets involving Chris Paul has left some in the NBA scratching their heads.
After all, free agency started Friday night—yet Paul had already made it well known he wanted to play with James Harden in Houston, hence the two sides agreeing to a sign and trade.
Which, technically speaking, would cause some logistical issues.
Here’s an NBA executive speaking with the Los Angeles Times‘ Broderick Turner:
“I don’t want to use the ‘T’ word — tampering — but we all don’t play by the rules when it comes to making deals,” one Eastern Conference executive said. “Besides, nobody is going to rat anybody out. That’s how this league works.”
Another said the following:
“Every team is looking for an advantage,” one executive said. “The deal got done way too fast for somebody not to be talking already. That happened real quick. But hey, that’s how it goes in this league.”
As the report notes, Harden had been recruiting Paul all season.
Players doing this is one thing—but it’s hard not to notice how quickly a deal for a top-five point guard materialized on a harmless Wednesday before free agency even started.
This is the state of the NBA right now, though, and unless the league wants to do something about this, teams will be more than happy to keep taking advantage.
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