Kyle Lowry was arguably the most sought-after free agent this offseason and the Miami Heat were able to land him. However, there has been some speculation as to whether or not it was done legitly.
The NBA launched a tampering investigation. They wanted to look into the rumors that the Miami Heat discussed a deal with Lowry before they were allowed to.
On the night before free agency, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Heat were favorites to land Lowry. Anyone who follows Woj knows this was just code for “they are going to sign him.”
Obviously, this sort of tampering is not allowed in the NBA. The Milwaukee Bucks got in trouble for it last year, and their supposed trade for Bojan Bogdanovic ended up falling through.
Some people around the league are more invested in the current tampering case involving Lowry. In fact, one current player believes he knows who initiated the investigation.
JJ Redick spoke his mind about the situation on a recent episode of his podcast, The Old Man and the Three. Redick played for both the Pelicans and Mavericks last season.
The 37-year-old guard insinuated that Pelicans GM David Griffin was the one who requested that there be an investigation regarding the Miami Heat signing Lowry.
"“I don’t know. I think you would probably have to ask the guy who’s asking for the investigation. Some teams cleared a ton of cap space to get Kyle, and it didn’t happen. And then Lonzo [Ball] leaving so you have to ask that guy, that guy complaining.”"
Based on this quote, it’s fairly clear that Redick believes the Pelicans were very upset with the way things went down. He has had issues with the organization in the past, so he knows a little bit about how they run things.
When Redick began the season with them last year, he requested a trade. They said they would help facilitate a deal to a team of his choosing by the deadline if he still wanted it by then.
However, when that time came, they dealt him to the Dallas Mavericks instead. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Pelicans did something along the lines of forcing the league to investigate the Miami Heat.
Before Miami landed Lowry, the Pelicans reportedly had interest in signing the veteran point guard. Apparently, they weren’t too happy with the way it all unfolded.
Regardless, it is highly unlikely that the Lowry signing gets undone. The Miami Heat got him, and it seems as though the Pelicans, and David Griffin, are just a bit upset about it.