Magic Johnson Conspicuously Absent of Blame in NBA Announcement on Lakers Tampering

The Lakers were fined $500,000 today after GM Rob Pelinka was found to have had “prohibited expression of interest” in Paul George with the player’s agent. Here is the full statement from the NBA:

You’ll note that Magic Johnson was not named as having tampered — despite his public statement on Jimmy Kimmell — which means that if he did tamper he at least had the good sense not to leave a paper trail. This has to be considered a win for the Lakers: No loss of draft picks, and especially no prohibition on moving forward with signing Paul George in 2018.