NBA Lockout Comes With Detailed Prohibition On Player-Team Communications

During the NBA lockout, team officials are not allowed to communicate with players, but also agents, relatives, personal staff and trainers and players' sneaker reps, reports Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The NBA will fine teams who violate the prohibition of community, Spears reports, and has even threatened termination for officials who talk to players or their proxies behind the scenes.

In the event of a chance encounter between a team official and player, the official is required to document the meeting and report it to the NBA.

ESPN's Ric Bucher reports that team officials can continue to follow players on Twitter, but are prohibited from "mentioning" or "retweeting" them.

The context of Spears' news comes in the case of Chris Paul and Randy Greenup, a security guard for the New Orleans Hornets and CP's close friend. Greenup and Paul can no longer hang out until the lockout is resolved; it's unclear whether Greenup will be allowed to attend Paul's wedding in September. (For what it's worth, the NFL granted Cowboys owner Jerry Jones permission to attend QB Tony Romo's wedding during that league's lockout.)