There's a lot going on in this Cathal Kelly column on the $25,000 tampering fine the NBA levied on the Raptors for some Kevin Durant comments made by "global ambassador" Drake at a concert, but I'd like to draw your attention to this item:

[Raptors officials] refused to address a key detail – that the NBA offered to drop the tampering fine if the team agreed to strip Drake of his title. The Raptors apparently refused.


Yeah, not a shock. Drake's affiliation is worth well more than $25,000 to the Raptors. But still: that's ride or die shit.

The rest of Kelly's column is worth your time. It's mostly inferred conspiracy theories to feed that famous Raptors inferiority complex, but it raises decent points about the NBA's tampering rules, which have become so heavy-handed and absurd that not even the NBA really wants to enforce them.


[Globe And Mail]