If you’re a big hoops fans and follow the NBA even during the depths of its offseason doldrums, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve seen a rumor suggesting that the New York Knicks may be trading Derrick Rose and budding superstar Kristaps Porzingis to Oklahoma City for Russell Westbrook.
Now, if you’re a big hoops fan who follows the NBA during this quiet stretch of NBA news and have a shred of common sense, you also probably know that the mere idea of a trade like this happening before February’s deadline is borderline impossible for reasons we don’t need to detail here.
What is interesting, however, is how this rumor even came to fruition. On his Twitter timeline Tuesday morning, SBNation’s Seth Rosenthal followed the trail all the way back to its source detailing how we got here:
1. This is an OKC news station with a verified Twitter pic.twitter.com/GEWzgyClz8
— Seth Rosenthal (@seth_rosenthal) September 20, 2016
2. That link takes you here pic.twitter.com/WqMdwnRy9R
— Seth Rosenthal (@seth_rosenthal) September 20, 2016
3. Which takes you here pic.twitter.com/mYqewIrO0r
— Seth Rosenthal (@seth_rosenthal) September 20, 2016
4. Which takes you here pic.twitter.com/SkaNXpNiwx
— Seth Rosenthal (@seth_rosenthal) September 20, 2016
As Rosenthal said, the origin of the rumor seems to have stemmed from an NBA trade rumors site that has little-to-no credibility on reporting on these kinds of deals. As of 2:45 p.m., there’s an update on the deal that involves four teams with the Cavaliers landing Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks ending up with Westbrook and Kevin Love, Porzingis heading to Oklahoma City and Rose going to Brooklyn.
These kinds of sites exist solely for the clicks they’ll receive from fans hungry for the ridiculous. The crux of the problem seems to stem from sites like Inquisitr that fail to do their homework. Interlaced in their story about the faux trade rumor are tweets with legitimate news to make their “story” feel more legit. Why was it given credibility in the first place? You’d have to ask KOCO News in Oklahoma City, which was the first major outlet to pick up this nonsense.
These kinds of rumors pop up all the time as there is a whole internet industry that thrives off fans who love these kinds of things. When a trade rumor pops up, it’s always best to wait and see if it’s reported on by a trusted journalist before running away with it.
(Via Seth Rosenthal)
