Call a spade a spade. ITS TAMPERING. If the NBA was serious they'd do something but they have no balls.
You're right about it being tampering, but wrong about why the NBA won't do anything about it. It has nothing to do with balls but rather $$$$$.
Here is what tampering is from:
http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q106Tampering is when a player or team directly or indirectly entices, induces or persuades anybody (player, general manager, etc.) who is under contract with another team in order to negotiate for their services. The NBA may impose suspensions and/or fines up to $50,000 if tampering is discovered, however the league's practice has been to wait until a team lodges a complaint before investigating (but that's not to say they don't continue to monitor the league and won't take action independently if they discover that tampering has occurred). Here are some examples:
?The Miami Heat were discovered to have tampered with Pat Riley in 1995 by negotiating with Riley while he was the head coach of the New York Knicks. The Heat "settled," and avoided league-imposed penalties, by compensating the Knicks with $1 million and their first round draft pick in 1996.
?After Will Perdue left San Antonio in the 1999 offseason to sign with Chicago, he commented to the press about the possibility of the Bulls signing Tim Duncan and/or Grant Hill in 2000. The league considered this to be tampering, and issued Perdue a warning.
You may have noticed that when general managers and other team personnel talk to the press, they are careful to avoid talking about specific players who play for other teams. They do this in order to avoid tampering. The only allowed response when talking about players under contract with other teams is to decline comment.
Based on the above, what Riley and Wade did was tampering. Too much $$$ at stake for the NBA to do anything about it. That unholy trinity coming together in that unholy way made everybody in the league too much $$$$. Some would argue that Gilbert not lodging a complaint about it got Cleveland one or was it two or was it three number one picks.
Also, based on the above, if James contacted Love to "entice" him to play in Cleveland, since Love is still under contract with Minny, THAT would be tampering. Again, too much $$$ at stake to not let this happen.
"It's good to be the king!!"