Bulls, Heat each lose second-round pick for tampering with Lonzo Ball, Kyle Lowry

The Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat will each be penalized for violating the NBA's rules regarding the time frame for free-agency discussions. They each will lose their next-available second-round draft pick, the league announced on Wednesday.

The ruling ends an investigation that started back in August into whether the teams in question entered discussions to sign free agents Lonzo Ball and Kyle Lowry before the free-agent window was open.

The Bulls acquired Ball from the New Orleans Pelicans on a four-year, $80 million contract for small forward Garrett Temple and guard Tomas Satoransky, while the Heat did a sign-and-trade with the Toronto Raptors for Lowry on a deal worth $85 million for three years in exchange for guard Goran Dragic and forward Precious Achiuwa.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bulls and Heat "fully cooperated with the investigations" according to a memo from the league. Per ESPN, each team could have lost even more draft picks and were subject to fines up to $10 million.

Miami addressed the penalty in a short statement posted to social media.