Please stop with this annoying trade speculation
Just like every summer, there’s currently a bevy of articles being posted with NBA trade rumors and speculation. But the last few seasons, it’s not just limited to rumor-mill type stuff anymore. As of this year, in fact, if you haven’t noticed, a growing majority of it has turned into just absolute trash clickbait. Maybe most of it, actually. That doesn’t stop fans from clicking, though. Sometimes it doesn’t stop me from clicking, even though I want to set fire to the internet after I read whatever garbage trade idea someone just cooked up to grab attention.
A lot of you are probably well aware of this, but it’s downright theatrical when you look at some of the more refined purveyors of BS content creation now at our fingertips. One website, The Wrightway Sports Network LLC (TWSN), routinely posts NBA articles online with headlines that indicate that a major trade has just been made, typically involving a well-known superstar or two.
“Breaking News”, it starts, so and so has just been traded to the… I dunno, Sacramento Kings, in exchange for these other guys. But when you click within the link to gather details, in search of context, one of the first things you’ll read is:
“This is a prediction, not a report.”
Ohhh… Haha. Well, then why the hell did you make it appear to be a report in the headline, friend? Oh, right. Your content is clickbait trash.
When I ran a Google search on the TWSN website to try and learn more about who they are, I noticed that the very first thing that pops up (after their website) is a Reddit post called “WTF is TWSN Sports? They seem delusional.”
Well, their website insists that their “commitment to quality journalism ensures that you are informed and engaged with all the action that unfolds on the court”.
Ugh…
But this is the kind of crap that is flooding the online news cycle almost constantly right now, now that we’ve reached the deep, suffocating desert of the NBA offseason. I think a lot of people out there consider it to be “fresh” material to ruminate on. (God forbid the world continue spinning for even 5 minutes without new wastes of time). Some MMB readers are even tired of reading unflattering things about Nico Harrison (apparently, that was only was a fad for some). (Not me).
Here’s an example of a highly unlikely trade scenario, and one that you’re sure to be aware of. One of the newest ideas concerns none other than the Maverick’s headache-in-chief himself (and the rest of the Mav’s brass, collectively, for those in the peanut seats who like to nitpick) trading for Los Angeles Lakers superstar… LeBron James.
With all of the media on Bron’s next steps after he opted into his player option, many fans want to see something crazy happen. They almost expect something crazy to happen. We’re kind of being conditioned to crave it, like everything else. And I get it. LeBron has never been anything but super accommodating in stoking speculation about where he’s going to take his talents next. He obviously enjoys the attention. And readers want something juicy. This time of year can be tedious for basketball fans.
But this particular trade scenario is perhaps the most maddening of all of them that are currently out there. Several sites have posted similar angles on this stupid LeBron to Dallas trade idea and are trying to convince people of the likelihood that the Dallas Mavericks, just months after trading Doncic to LA, would consider sending major rotational pieces P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, Naji Marshall, and another role player AND some draft capital for soon-to-be 41 year old LeBron James so that he, Kyrie, and AD can make some Top Gun 3 reunion tour together in Dallas. (Wouldn’t that just place the finishing touches on clearing out all the remaining integrity from the Nowitski era?)
The organizational leadership may be guilty of making questionable moves, but those are in the past. There’s absolutely no way they’d derail the functionality of the team they’ve just taken absurd risks to construct.
Right?