According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Los Angeles Clippers have been fined $50,000 for violating the NBA’s anti-tampering rules. The stiff penalty comes in response to Clippers’ head coach Doc Rivers publicly praising Raptors’ star Kawhi Leonard on a recent ESPN interview, one in which the legendary coach said the following:
“He is the most like Jordan that we’ve seen. Like, there’s a lot of great players… LeBron is phenomenal, KD is phenomenal. Not that (Kawhi) is Jordan or anything like that, but he is the most like him.”
The 57-year-old veteran coach went on to praise Kawhi’s talented skill-set later on in the saying this:
“Big hands. Post game. Can finish. Great leaper. Great defender. In-between game. If you beat him to the spot, he bumps you off. And then you add his three-point shooting.”
Just moments after the interview went on the air, clips of it went viral on various social media platforms, leaving many NBA fans accusing Rivers of violating the NBA’s strict anti-tampering policy.
Below are several examples of fan’s reactions to the clips on social media:
Tell me how doc rivers talking about KD and Kawhi and how good are they are isn’t tampering but magic said anything as president and gets fined for tampering 🤣. This league is just against the lakers 🗣
— Kawhi to the Lakers (@RobertM58809332) May 28, 2019
So Doc Rivers can talk about Kawhi and its no tampering claims being thrown out…like when Magic talked about Giannis and got tagged for $50,000…what was the difference?
— CL Owens 🏀 (@CSmoove_NBAHoop) May 29, 2019
Doc Rivers saying Kawhi is most like MJ since MJ on a national platform isn’t considered tampering? Asking for a friend.
— DraymondShouldAlwaysWear23 (@CountOnVic) May 29, 2019
