Bob Myers has been at ESPN for a couple of years now and while his presence on NBA Countdown and calling games hasn’t been groundbreaking by any stretch, the former Warriors GM is legitimately great during the big transaction periods of the NBA calendar — namely the trade deadline and free agency.
He not only has insight into how these deals get done that very few that do television can explain to viewers, but he also still has a ton of connections and intel into talks and things that happen — or almost happen. The challenge, of course, as someone who has that much information is what you tell the public and what you do not, and on Thursday’s trade deadline special, Myers let something slip that was not yet public knowledge that I don’t think he meant to have become breaking news.
The discussion turned to the top teams in the West and how teams in the middle of the standings don’t feel particularly threatened by the Grizzlies, Rockets, and even Thunder, as they’re all unproven in the playoffs. Myers was explaining that the Grizzlies seem to understand that themselves, which is why they tried to make a deal for Jimmy Butler and Kevin Durant. That second part was not something that had been previously reported, which Brian Windhorst couldn’t help but note on air.
We knew there were other teams calling about Durant, including on Thursday, but didn’t know what teams. While the Grizzlies make sense as one of those teams given their effort to get Butler, we did not have that confirmed by anyone in the know until Myers’ little slip. This isn’t disastrous — and if anything it offers a glimpse into how much we don’t know that’s going on behind the scenes that some of these guys do — but it was a funny moment as Windy chuckled about it some as the master of knowing things and not sharing all of the information.
