Everyone tampers so it's dumb but I think Magic coming in and doing the whole Magic thing where he's flashing his smile and cracking harmless tampering jokes on Jimmy Kimmel cost them. They were too obvious about it and the smaller market teams clearly didn't see it as being harmless, especially when Pelinka was apparently talking to George's agent behind the scenes.
Magic also just can't help himself. Just look at the most recent comments about Ben Simmons (another Klutch client). He went in front of the media yesterday before a nationally televised game and mentioned how Simmons wants to work out with him and it's up to the Sixers and NBA now. However, Elton Brand comes out today and says that request was made a month ago and they already told Simmons and Pelinka no. This isn't tampering and the Lakers followed all the rules but no one knew about it until Magic intentionally mentioned it to the media and now the Sixers and Simmons will likely have to answer questions about it. You can see why some people get pissed off at them.