Magic Johnson, the president of basketball operations for the Lakers, went on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday to talk about his new gig. There was a lot of smiles and laughter, but there was also a moment when Magic may or may not have committed tampering … and it happened when Jimmy asked Magic about tampering.

It started with Jimmy asking if the Lakers are interested in Paul George or Chris Paul and Magic said he — of course — can’t answer. Jimmy then asked about if Magic had to learn about what he can’t do as the president of basketball operations.

Magic said:

“I had to go to school. I had to go to CBA school, salary cap school and tampering school (laughs). You can’t tamper with somebody else’s player.”

Jimmy followed that up by questioning what Magic would do if he saw Paul George while on vacation. Here’s Magic’s answer:

“No, we gonna say hi because we know each other, you just can’t say, ‘Hey, I want you to come to the Lakers,’ even though I’ll be wink winking like (winks a bunch of times) you know what that means right?”

So while saying he can’t talk about what players he hopes sign with the Lakers, in an example, Magic said he wants PG-13 on the Lakers, well he said it without saying it. Is that tampering? Maybe? Since he said it with that million-dollar smile and a hearty laugh on a late night show, I guess it’s fine?

This is the NBA’s definition of tampering that was shared in a memo several years ago:

“Article 35A of the NBA Constitution states that it’s a violation of the league’s anti-tampering rule for any person affiliated with an NBA team to directly or indirectly (i) entice, induce, or persuade, or attempt to entice, induce or persuade, any player, coach, GM or other person under contract to any other NBA team to enter into negotiations for or relating to that person’s services or to negotiate or contract for such services, or (ii) otherwise interfere with the employment relationship between that employee and the other NBA team.”

In the video above, Magic also talks about he still wants to take down Larry Bird, and mentions that Bill Clinton and Denzel Washington were just a couple of the people who called him to congratulate him on his position with the Lakers.