The NBA free agency period starts up in July and with the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs battling it out in the finals for the championship, the rest of the team's in the league have become restless while waiting to start targeting players and that has put the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks in hot water with the league's tampering rules.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, both the Rockets and the Hawks were fined for tampering after information came out from a league memo. USA Today and ESPN reported the names of the teams from sources, as the league memo did not have the names or the amount of the fines. Three teams total were fined for tampering and ESPN reported that the Hawks were fined for using both Dwight Howard and Chris Paul's names in a letter to season ticket holders, while the Rockets were fined for certain stories written on the team website.
The NBA tampering rules can be a bit ridiculous, because technically a coach or executive could be fined for even mentioning another player's name that is under contract with someone else, but in these cases it seems justified. The Rockets mentioned both Howard and Paul in a letter to season ticket holders and after the news came out the team blamed a low level staffer for the incident. The Hawks released a statement and said that they supported the decision of the NBA and that they respect the fine.
According to the memo, the teams were fined after a team employee made statements that involved players that were under contract and were set to be free agents this coming summer in both Howard and Paul. The letter in question was sent out to season-ticket holders and said that the "buzz" around the team's offseason was heating up and it also mentioned the "possibilities" of landing Chris Paul and Dwight Howard.
While Paul and Howard are unlikely to sign with the Hawks, Atlanta has been mentioned as a place where the Los Angeles Lakers center could consider since it is his hometown. Kobe Bryant has said that he wants to get the last word in with Howard and the most rumored destinations for the center include the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets.
