Lakers fined $50K for comments Magic Johnson made about Giannis Antetokounmpo

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The Los Angeles Lakers have been fined $50,000 for violating the league's anti-tampering rules, it was announced Tuesday.

The fine is in response to comments made by president of basketball operations Magic Johnson regarding Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo during a recent media interview.

"I'm just happy he's starting in the All-Star Game because he deserves that," Johnson told ESPN in a story published last week. "And he's going to be like an MVP, a champion, this dude he's going to put Milwaukee on the map. And I think he's going to bring them a championship one day."

When asked Tuesday night by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about Johnson's praise and the fine that came with it, Antetokounmpo said, “It was just a compliment. I don’t think Magic Johnson was tampering in any way. I think it was just a compliment towards a player. He was asked about a player and he gave a compliment. I don’t know what the rules are, but if you get fined for a compliment you get fined for a compliment.”

This is the second time the Lakers have been fined this year for violating the NBA's anti-tampering rules, which prohibit team executives from speaking publicly about a player under contract with another team. The franchise was fined $500,000 in August after general manager Rob Pelinka made contact with Paul George's agent which, according to the league, "constituted a prohibited expression of interest in the player while he was under contract."

The Lakers had previously been warned by the NBA after Johnson's now infamous appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live last April in which George's eventual free agency was a topic of discussion.