Chris Paul's reported trade request will almost certainly spring many teams into action, as it should. In response, the NBA, undoubtedly concerned about the perception it received from the LeBron James free agency derby, has reportedly issued a memo to all NBA teams reminding them of the league's tampering policies.
The memo, circulated Tuesday by the league office, states that "no team should be having communications with Chris Paul or his agent or representative about a potential trade for Paul that have not been authorized in advance by the New Orleans Hornets."
The memo, sources said, also threatens to punish any such communications with penalties that range from "suspension of the offending person, prohibition of the offending team from hiring the person being tampered with, forfeiture of draft picks and individual and/or team fines of up to $5 million."
It's extremely rare for the NBA to name a specific individual in these memos, but Stein reports the NBA was concerned by reports that Paul's agent Leon Rose has already been reaching out to teams regarding his client.