Adrian Wojnarowski played rumor fairy this week, sneaking into our bedrooms in the middle of the night and tucking under our pillows a fresh trade tidbit about the Celtics discussing a Kevin Durant deal.
The rumor itself didn’t seem to have much heft to it. One front office guy called another about a superstar who asked to be traded. They talked for however long, some names were mentioned, and nothing came of it. All of the reporting characterized the Celtics as no closer to a deal for Durant than any other team where talks have stalled, and just about everyone acknowledges that the conversation happened well before the report.
Those two paragraphs are about all I have felt comfortable discussing. My deduction from this information is that Brooklyn is using Boston to get more from other teams. They need this report to be taken seriously, so they plant the story and hope it grows legs.
At this point, this rumor is becoming a millipede.
We reached the nadir today where one debate show participant loudly yelled that Boston should include Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, and three first round picks for Durant, as if removing three starters from a Finals team for Durant made any sense.
I wonder sometimes why a GM would drop an obvious ploy like this when everyone knows it’s a ploy. Most people sniffed out right away that Sean Marks was probably the guy behind this leak just so Brooklyn could announce to the world “hey, look at the package we rejected!” He probably used Boston because it didn’t matter if he poisoned any discussions since those weren’t really serious anyway, and he also sent a message to other teams, and all of us, what their real price is.
But if everyone knows this is a planted story, why do it?
Because once this thing is in the media, it blows up to a point where the original intent didn’t matter. All that matters to Marks is that loud NBA insider dropping a ridiculous trade package on national TV. What matters is the constant discussions about whether Boston should or shouldn’t do this, and all of these shows making the conscious decision of saying “we know it’s probably not true, but let’s run with it anyway because we need content.”
I personally have done three podcasts about the topic, mostly playing the Sideshow Bob role from when he tried to eliminate television in Springfield. I’m aware of the irony of appearing in the media in order to decry it, so don’t bother pointing that out.
At this point, we’ve all done Marks’ bidding. The story has gained steam regardless of how real it is. And now that it’s everywhere, doubt can’t help but creep into the heads of the owners of these teams Brooklyn is dealing with. Even if the front office can keep a level head, can the owner in the face of all this discussion of Boston possibly sneaking in and stealing their prize?
There always has to be some shred of truth to ploys like this. There's no doubt Brad Stevens called Marks about Durant. Any team not calling simply isn’t doing its due diligence. The Celtics might have even discussed some form of package that would have to include Brown and Derrick White, because that's where the trade would likely have to start financially. They might even be willing to do that deal, but whether it rose to the level of “offer” is part of that murky pool of half-truths that feeds this beast.
Things are never quite as simple as the reporting makes it out to be. There's no piece of paper with “OFFER” at the top that is stamped and sent to another team. Whatever was said between the two teams probably lives somewhere in the “we might be willing to do this, if you’re willing to do that” type of space.
That space is pretty big, and it can be spun a lot of ways. So long as we ignore some simple questions -- like, does Durant even want to play in Boston? If he’s willing to force his way out of Brooklyn with four years left on his deal, why would he honor the whole contract somewhere else? And what exactly is Brooklyn trying to accomplish? Do they want a ton of picks (which New Orleans has), the best player (which Boston has), or the youngest potential star to grow in a rebuild (which Toronto has) -- we can play the game Marks wants us all to play.
All he needed was for enough people in the higher-ups of these organizations to hear that Boston is a real threat. The bait has been taken by most everyone, because the media landscape is built for everyone to compete to have their takes heard, and for people to scream louder and louder so their voices stand out.
If you listen closely, everyone who has some level of inside knowledge of the team expects the Celtics to keep Brown. The rumor is interesting on the surface, but the conclusion of every one of these discussions, from the ones I started to the ones I listened to, has been that Boston is probably not doing this and that it makes more sense in the long-term to keep Brown.
But that doesn’t matter anymore. The sense of the situation has been drowned out by the absurdity, which makes Marks the winner this week. The message is spreading. He’s successfully chummed the waters, and now he just needs to hope someone bites.