NBA Opens Investigation Into Failed Bogdan Bogdanovic Trade Deal

The ongoing issue about the failed Bodgan Bogdanovic trade to Milwaukee is now heating up.

As reported by Marc Stein, the NBA is now opening an investigation into the Bogdanovic sign and trade deal that was made by the Milwaukee Bucks and the Sacramento Kings.

The trade deal would have sent Bogdanovic and Justin James to the Bucks in return for Donte DiVincenzo, D.J. Wilson and Ersan Ilyasova. The trade was first reported by various sources on Tuesday. The issue is that there was an agreement reached on Tuesday which is three days before Milwaukee would be allowed to negotiate with free agents. Free agents are not allowed to negotiate with other teams until Friday at 6 p.m.  ET.

However, the trade seems to have fallen apart. Bogdanovic is widely expected to enter free agency and Ilyasova was waived by the Bucks. Ilyasova was part of the deal that was supposed to send Bogdanovic to Milwaukee to improve their roster.

The League will use the investigation to see whether the Bucks committed a tampering violation by talking with Bogdanovic before he was legally allowed to do so. This is not the first time the league that there was a possible tampering violation. An instance was in 2018 when Chris Paul was set to become a free agent but instead opted into this final year of his contract and was traded to the Houston Rockets. It was said later that James Harden recruited him to the Rockets.

However, one of the biggest issues is whether the league could prove that Milwaukee was indeed tampering with Bogdanovic. The NBA will be possibly going off the initial report that the sign-and-trade was agreed on as the main evidence. Both teams could deny that the trade happened or if it was even false. This makes it very difficult to prove that there was indeed a tampering violation.