Reading Too Much Into This Innocuous Nerlens Noel Tweet About His Hometown

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Most people can tweet nice things about their hometown if they want without incident. Most people, though, aren’t NBA players. Nerlens Noel is the latest athlete to find themselves at the center of internet overreaction for doing something as innocuous as tweeting about where he grew up.

Noel’s tweet is simple enough. He has an appreciation for Boston; big deal. Unfortunately, he’s also been at the center of trade rumors all summer.

Sam Hinkie is gone from the Philadelphia 76ers. The team has an abundance of big men. Dario Saric is finally ready to come to America. Joel Embiid looks very, very healthy. Ben Simmons is a very different kind of big man, but he’s still a player with size. That’s why the expectation is that the Sixers will offload Noel or Jahlil Okafor before next season’s trade deadline at the latest.

Due to this fact, Noel can’t tweet about loving Boston without people beginning to speculate about him being traded to the Celtics. Hopefully he doesn’t end up getting traded to the Celtics, if only not to validate all the people who look for clues and hints in every little thing an athlete does on social media. Noel might be traded. It has nothing to do with him tweeting about his love for Boston. Let’s all be cool for once.

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