The Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls were fined by the NBA for violating the rules in the trades of Kyle Lowry and Lonzo Ball respectively.
Both organizations will lose the next available second-round picks in the NBA draft.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) December 1, 2021
Lowry and Ball were acquired through sign-and-trade deals this summer, in what are negotiations that generally take a long time to complete. However, both transactions were agreed minutes after the free agency period opened, which to the NBA implied that they were in talks before the allowed time.
Miami added Lowry to a three-year, $ 85 million deal in a trade that sent Precious Achiuwa and Goran Dragic to the Toronto Raptors. Lonzo Ball joined Chicago on a four-year, $ 85 million deal in a move that brought Garrett Temple and Tomas Satoransky to the New Orleans Pelicans.
