He might be trying to see what the Lakers do post-Lebron. If the Lakers are rebuilding from scratch, he might not want to be on a tanking team. So kind of a win-win situation for both camps?
Maybe they're going to finally crack down on that with the whole Dame situation. Unlikely, but who knows. I bet enough owners are pissed to seek enforcement from the league.
I would love to see the league do something but I don't see how. You can't take away the ability to say you're not happy and the media will do everything else.
I'm all for massively punitive punishments to a guy pushing to a specific team that hard, though. Fine the player 75% of their salary for the remainder of the contract. But good luck getting the players to agree to 75% of one game worth of fines for it.