Trades in the NBA happen. Every player understands this and they accept it. When Robert Covington was traded from the 76ers to the Timberwolves, as part of a package that netted the Sixers Jimmy Butler, he wasn’t distraught. He understood the business side of the league means this can happen. But it would be inaccurate, however, to say he wasn’t blindsided by the news, because how Covington found out he was traded was a cardinal sin.
Covington saw the news that he was about to be packaged for Butler when he saw a link with his name on it on social media. Yes, Covington found out he had been traded through social media. Not a team employee, a coach, or Sixers GM Elton Brand. He found out on his phone. To be clear he was eventually contacted, but the news was old to him at that point.
“I found out on social media,” he said. “It was like five minutes before the team meeting, then Brett [Brown, the Sixers’ coach] called me and EB [general manager Elton Brand] called me, but I already knew. By then it was already out there. That’s how I found out.”
Players expect trades to happen, but it’s an easier blow to take when the information is given to them by the people they trust. Namely, their coaches and the team itself. Finding out through a report on something like Twitter or Facebook has to be disheartening for the athlete. It tells them that the information was more important to give details to a reporter first than the player themselves.
But despite this, Covington doesn’t have any hard feelings toward the team. He does believe that the way Sixers delivered the news was very cold though. And he hasn’t spoken to Brand since he learned he was no longer a Sixer.
He said that when Brown called him, the conversation was cold and simple. He was told that he’d been packaged in a trade for Butler. That was all.
“It was really clear-cut and dry,” he said of the phone call. “As far as having that respect level, and for how much we’d been through, I would have thought it had to be completely different, but it wasn’t. Considering how much time relationship-wise and everything that went down. … It was weird.”
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“It probably was cold,” Brand said of the split with Covington. “I would talk to those guys about anything and everything … and now we don’t talk anymore. With my new role and my new job, it’s tough to make those decisions. The relationship is real, but it’s tough because it becomes transactional. I can see how he would think it was cold, for sure.”
The Sixers should have done a better job about not letting the information of the trade get out until they had informed all their players. Organizations should never allow players to find out they’ve been traded through social media. It’s just not good business practice. That said, it’s not a surprise that Brand doesn’t talk to any of his former players anymore. There’s no reason to do so. Most people don’t talk to their former bosses when they leave their job, right? Why should it be any different in the NBA?
