The New York Daily News reported on Monday that LeBron James, the King Ding-a-Ling in the NBA free agent class, was in New York last Friday to enjoy a night on the town. Keeping James company? New Jersey Nets minority owner, iconic rapper and friend Jay-Z. During any other month out of the year, this wouldn’t raise as much as an eyebrow, lest some TMZ photogs catch them in an Eiffel Tower with Miss USA. However, less than a week away from a day as important as today, it’s causing a bit of a storm, at least in Dallas.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined $100,000 in May for a harmless comment he made to CNNMoney.com about how any team would want to sign LeBron. Shortly after, former Suns President Steve Kerr was also fined $10,000 for a joke he made about signing James. These instances made public light of the NBA’s tampering rules, which basically impose a no contact policy between free-agents-to-be and team owners until the beginning of free agency – today. Queue the suspenseful beats.
