Recap of the media circus around the free agency of Kawhi Leonard

Kawhi Leonard made the biggest news of the NBA this summer, as only he could: Extremely silently. The world has learned that the most valuable player at the finals will leave Toronto after a winning season to join the Los Angeles Clippers at approximately 2 am Eastern on a Saturday morning holiday weekend.

In a leaky media environment, Leonard and his team used Flex Seal. We knew that the Clippers were part of the teams envisioned by Leonard, but before the announcement of the news, we were generally expecting him to stay with the Raptors, where he had just won a championship , or that he joins LeBron James and Anthony Davis. on the Los Angeles Lakers. But the most surprising of all was the news that Leonard was going to the Clippers and teaming up with Paul George – a player who had just signed a massive contract with the Thunder of Oklahoma City last year and who was not known to be in the trading block.

But the fact that no news has been announced so far did not satisfy him in terms of information. For a week, all journalists, from professional journalists to anonymous Redditors, peddled insider information about Leonard's upcoming decisions. Some have become famous thanks to their Leonard spoons; some of this fame quickly turned into infamy. So, now that KawhiWatch is over, let's take a look at the different types of media coverage we received last month and see who provided us with reasonable information and fed the world randomly.

Say nothing before Kawhi's signature

The most accurate reporter on the Kawhi-to-the-Clippers contract is not particularly surprising: ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported shortly after the end of the NBA that Leonard was leaning in favor of the Clippers. Lakers Internet quickly decided that Woj was a clipper tailor who often offered him friendly reports. It turned out that these reports were accurate. (As we all know, ESPN is extremely biased towards the Clippers, which is why the Clippers did not play any games on ESPN last season, when they finished with a better record than the Lakers for the seventh year consecutive). said that Leonard took his time with his decision and finally announced Leonard's signature.

The third nominee for accuracy, though, is odd: Cris Carter, NFL Hall of Fame member. Carter is in the sports media business now, but co-host of the morning sports talk show First things first on Fox Sports 1. Looking for information about the NBA as free agents does not seem to match Carter's background or job description, but Carter has become a Kawhi whisperer. He was plugged into the contentious Leonard San Antonio exit last year and provided precise updates on the location, timing and reason of Leonard's free agency process this year. He was paying attention to repeatedly remind readers this Leonard was still considering the Clippers (although at some point, he slipped and said that he "believed" Leonard decided between the Raptors and the Lakers.) Carter planned that Leonard would make his decision on Friday, correct, and tweeted the news of the simultaneous signing of Leonard and Haynes, beating Woj by a few minutes.

Woj, Haynes and Carter won this round because they did not play their hands too much. They had not hypothesised or clouded their relationship with unimportant things. In general, they avoided secret meetings and declared that Leonard was undecided when he was undecided. They did this strange thing where they just said what they knew would happen rather than filling the blanks with conjectures. Bizarre.

Stalker Journalism

While some professionals shared their behind-the-scenes knowledge of what was happening, some amateurs came across behind-the-scenes news and decided to put their discoveries in the spotlight. A supporter in Toronto has listed Leonard on a list of candidates for a program to facilitate travel between the United States and Canada. Another claimed to know that Leonard had enrolled his daughter in a school in Niagara. Other noticed Leonard was buying moving boxes at Home Depot –was he moving to Los Angeles or to a new house he had bought in Toronto? My favorite analysis of Kawhi's daily life in the weeks leading up to his decision to become an independent agent was when Leonard attended a Blue Jays game and was seen filming an asset of Mike Trout on his phone– Obviously, he should only do this if he stayed in Toronto, because when he was going to Los Angeles, he could go to Anaheim and watch Mike Trout play whenever he wanted. Honestly, it was such a good catch that I still believe Kawhi will end up on the Raptors.

Harassment grew as fans realized that the private jet belonging to the Raptors' owners was flying from Los Angeles to Toronto – presumably with Leonard on board. New helicopters filmed the landing of the plane, the landing of passengers and a pair of black SUVs carrying passengers from the plane.

In downtown Toronto, fans gathered in front of a hotel where Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri was seen:

All this hunt supposedly gifted for the followers gives a preview of the decision of Leonard. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, none of this meant anything. We do not know if Leonard's daughter was really enrolled at this school; and we do not know what Leonard did with these boxes, or if Leonard has already met the Raptors at this hotel.

Lost in the sauce source

Chris Broussard celebrated his Independence Day by tweeting something freed from the tyranny of accuracy.

Rereading this masterpiece with a retreat of 20/20, it is difficult to definitively distinguish the funniest part. The obvious favorite is the dramatic, provocative "Clippers Out", but I do not think it's as funny as the idea that Kawhi stays in Toronto because Drake has given him a chance to become a rap star. Does Kawhi even know what music is?

Earlier in June, Broussard had designated the Clippers as favorites to sign Kawhi. But as the free agencies approached, he changed his tone, becoming adamant that Leonard appeared before the Lakers. On June 30, Leonard was the "Lakers to lose", 2nd of July Leonard was "Laker-bound", and planned to make things official within 48 hours except for one "last-minute change. "

The strongest catch of Broussard turned out to be the worst. Broussard filmed a video explaining that he was not really wrong, because during his report of July 4, which was false, the Clippers were not very taken into account.

Broussard was not alone. Jalen Rose was "99% confident"The latter is about to sign a two-year contract with the Raptors. Rose, for her part, was not trying to get out of her false report by calling her wrong.

But the worst scoopsman of all was not a talking television head. It was Arye Abraham. Barely 22 years old, Abraham is already an experienced pilot of the rumor. At the age of 16, he camped in a Beverly Hills hotel and announced the news of the teams he met with Dwight Howard. It was a fun surprise for a bored high school student during the summer holidays. But now, Abraham is fully involved in Twitter's tough credit war. he non-stop points outside when he get the good stories and complains loudly if the other people produce similar reports without the creditant.

Wojs distinguishes two people from Abraham: the fact that he does not plan to become a scoophound full-time. He studies law at USC and plans to work for "a large law firm" after graduation. And perhaps more related to this conversation: Abraham is open and proud of his Lakers people. In fact, he had not been to this hotel six years ago looking for shovels. He went there in the hope of convincing Dwight Howard to sign with the Lakers.

Coincidentally, most of Abraham's news is related to the Lakers and often focuses on the good things that happen to them. On June 30, while all other reporters reported that Leonard would take some time to make his decision, Abraham said that Leonard "will definitely be wrapped up tomorrow." Later that night, he announced terrible news for the Clippers:

On July 1, Abraham sent a deleted tweet since, claiming that the Clippers were "OUT". the Clippers "were exploring other avenues". 2nd of July he reported that Leonard had made his decision, even before a high-profile meeting with raptors. When the helicopters found the SUV in Toronto, Abraham said "a source close to the situation" said Leonard did not like "the fanfare." Did the texts come from inside the SUV?

An article on the USC website celebrating its famous famous student on the internet proudly claimed that Abraham had 38,000 subscribers on Twitter, which means that at least 7,000 people have it. abandoned since. Like Broussard, Abraham's mea culpa for his inaccurate statements was a tedious explanation that, Actuallyhe was right at the time.

I am going to give these guys the benefit of the doubt and assume that they were really burned by generally reliable sources. Maybe Leonard has changed his mind a few times.

I think it's good to make erroneous sports predictions or to suggest future sports that never happen. That's what makes sport fun! We do not know what will happen! But we have to roast the worst of the Scoops era of the NBA. These journalists do not pretend to make predictions or projections: they claim to report facts that no one has access to. They would throw a corgi in a blender to inform the world of Ivica Zubac's contract details 47 seconds before everyone else, because their value is the ability to provide exclusive access to information. If you want to demand scrupulous respect to be right just a little earlier than anyone else, you can not absolve yourself of any responsibility when your facts turn out to be fiction.

QAnon, but for basketball

Sometimes people just want to hear that their team is winning. They will listen to all those who say that good things happen to their team, even if the supply is questionable. they will decry anyone who says otherwise as false information, even if that person is otherwise trustworthy. (This is not just a sport thing.)

This explains the meteoric rise and setbacks of several accounts devoted to the idea that Kawhi Leonard wanted to play for the Lakers. Some of these accounts were highly recommended, after predicting that important NBA players would join the Lakers in the past. But throwing players at the Lakers is often as easy as making weather in Los Angeles – even if you have not studied meteorology, you can stand in front of a camera and say it's going to be sunny and sunny. 85 as you have information inside.

The privileged attack of the Lakers king was the RDAmbition user, whose KawhiWatch is now over. RDAmbition has made a name by accurately predicting – reports? Leak? The details of the Anthony Davis trade and the news of Al Horford's move to the 76ers. (He also wrote about the difficulties of supporting Donald Trump in Los Angeles, but that was swept away.) Doxxers claimed that the person behind the account was tied to the Lakers owner, Jeanie Buss, which, true or not, had reinforced the references of the anonymous account. June 28 RDAmbition published in R / Lakers Leonard had spoken to LeBron and Kobe Bryant and had appreciated the loyalty of the Lakers franchise. (Any phrase with the words "Kobe" and "loyalty" is obvious bait for Laker lovers.) A few days later, RDAmbition had deleted its Reddit account. outcast for to know too much?!?– and taken on Twitter. On July 1st, RDAmbition tweeted that Leonard had informed the Clippers officials by teleconference that the team was officially out of the running.

In a historical meeting of minds, Abraham said that he could "confirm"RDAmbition Report". A few hours later, RDAmbition went on to say that Kawhi to the Lakers was "officially done".

The account has gathered more than 30,000 subscribers in a few days. And then it's gone. As soon as Leonard was announced to the Clippers, the account, which had proudly ruled the Clippers a few days ago, disappeared from Twitter, apparently removed by its owner. What was the final? For this information to be true, the subscriber count would go beyond the cap and the owner could sell the account to a Macedonian farm. Dammit Kawhi! You have cost this guy thousands!

And let's not forget @LakersInformant, an account that has repeatedly stated that Leonard would sign with the Lakers on July 3rd:

The story told stories of Leonard's contractual demands and invented a salary cap loophole called "biennial room exception", which, for the record, is two effective pay-ceiling loopholes combined into a false loophole.

@LakersInformant did not delete the account, but changed the nickname to @BoogieCousinSZN and stopped pretending to have insider information.

I am ambivalent about the people who ended up providing accurate information, a little strange by those who tracked down Kawhi Leonard, and a little aggravated by the trustworthy injustice of Scoops Twitter. However, I am thrilled by the performance of these false Lakers insiders who have peddled only fancy before disappearing. It's incredibly funny that one of the most successful franchises in basketball history feels so harsh about her current collection of superstars that she fell under the spell of these hooligans in search of attention . No one had ever read a fanfic with the belief that it was really happening in real life – up to those Lakers fans.