Lakers fined $50K for Magic's comments on Giannis

The Los Angeles Lakers have been hit with another fine for violating the NBA's anti-tampering rules.

After being docked $500,000 for tampering with Paul George last summer, the Lakers have been fined a comparatively meager $50,000 for a violation regarding Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The league announced the fine was levied in response to comments Lakers president Magic Johnson made about Antetokounmpo in a "recent media interview."

That would seem to point to Johnson's interview with ESPN's Nick Friedell last week, in which Johnson mostly just praised Antetokounmpo and predicted he'll one day win a title with the Bucks.

"I'm just happy he's starting in the All-Star game because he deserves that," Johnson said. "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."

The league's collective bargaining agreement does stipulate that for front-office personnel, "the only allowed response when talking about players under contract with other teams is to decline comment."

This looks like a particularly rigid enforcement of that rule, but the league is seemingly trying to set a zero-tolerance precedent - particularly given the Lakers' previous, out-of-bounds dalliance with George.