NBA Notebook: Celtics rumors crash course, Kawhi Leonard drama, and more 76ers stuff

If there were ever a time for a media literacy training session, it would be now. As the dog days of summer unfold, new rumors will be popping up every day: Some real, some fake, some surviving in a grey area in between. And unfortunately, in most cases, it's up to the consumer to decipher its legitimacy.

Reporters have a duty to report only factual information. Any journalist, media member, or person trying to actually become a figurehead in the space must pride themselves on publishing only accurate information. But not everyone is held to that same standard.

A lot of talking heads and social-media people don't have to abide by the same rules. They aren't posting their work in accredited publications or on platforms, and their faces aren't always attached to the information via a podcast clip publicly accessible to everyone.

The same goes for what may be the worst offenders of all: Aggregation accounts. These accounts make their money off engagement. Not accuracy, not well-fleshed-out rumors, but solely engagement. So they can post whatever they want -- as long as it gets clicks.

Let's use some recent Celtics rumors as an example. Specifically, rumors about whether Stephen Curry could be traded to the Boston Celtics as soon as this summer.

It all started with a familiar face: John Karalis. Now writing at Sports Illustrated, Karalis wrote an opinion piece about Curry and the Celtics. Much like the article I wrote here at BSJ. But one line in Karalis' article stuck out like a sore thumb:

"I’m not entirely confident in Curry being traded this season. It would be a bit of a shocking development if he did. There's no doubt Brad Stevens has already been on the phone with the Warriors brass to pitch a deal if they want one. "

That phrasing was enough to get clipped and shipped by aggregate accounts. More specifically, by NBABase, a Twitter account with over 11,000 followers. But the account phrased its tweet very differently from the actual words that Karalis wrote.

In no way did Karalis frame his article as a "report," like the post blatantly cited. Karalis said that if Curry were to request a trade, then he has no doubt that Stevens would have already made a call. He's sharing an opinion. A belief that the Celtics would almost certainly be interested if Curry hit the trade market. But that didn't matter.

NBABase followed up with a second post, noting the potential package Karalis put together in his article. However, when the package was used as a quote-tweet alongside the original "report" statement, it gained a ton of unnecessary traction as a legitimate trade option. In reality, it was nothing more than speculation.

Before long, even bigger aggregators picked it up. NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) posted the so-called report, crediting Karalis and giving a hat-tip to NBABase. Their tweet has since been deleted, but the damage was done. NBACentral has 2.2 million followers. The false report had gone viral.

Now, you may be thinking, 'Oh, anyone sane should know that's false information. No way people believed it.' Well, you would be surprised. The rumor spread like wildfire. To corners of the internet, with casual fans willing to believe whatever information is placed in front of them.

And for what it's worth, this information is pretty believable. It would be easy for even the biggest NBA fan in the world to get duped. It's a post that says "report" with a Celtics reporter's name next to it.

Within hours, the fake report had been shared to every social media platform imaginable. I saw it on my Instagram feed. It was everywhere on Twitter. It made it to TikTok. Facebook got a hold of it. An entire NBA news cycle spawned from an opinion piece and poor aggregation.

Then, there was the James Stewart tweet. Another Curry-oriented rumor, though on a smaller scale. Stewart is a producer for Felger & Max on 98.5 The Sports Hub. And he sent out a tweet stating that Curry, Barack Obama, and Jayson Tatum were golfing together in Massachusetts. It was inferred to be a recruitment tactic.

Now, Stewart's information wasn't completely false. Obama was in Massachusetts, and Curry and Tatum were on the same course as him. But it was a 65th birthday trip. Obama and Curry had a tee time together, and Tatum was a few holes in front of them.

Could they have met up? Absolutely. Did they? Probably. Curry and Tatum have a relationship from the Olympics, and Obama was present in that scene as well. But it wasn't a golf trip specifically for recruitment purposes, as the tweet would have implied.

In the span of a few days, the entire internet was turned upside down. Everyone believed that Curry was going to be a Celtic because of a bad aggregation account and a stretched-out version of the truth. That's why it's always important to fact-check everything.

Do a Google search. See if any other outlets are covering the information. See what other reporters have to say about the topic. Don't take everything at face value.

1. Assessing the 76ers

Obviously, Jaylen Brown's press conference was newsworthy enough for Celtics fans. But Mike Gansey, the President of Basketball Operations in Philadelphia, also shared some thoughts on the team.

Most of the highlights involve the LeBron James of it all. Brown's piece of the puzzle, in particular. Gansey said that, without Brown, the Sixers probably wouldn't have gotten James.

"Without getting Jaylen, I don't think we get LeBron," Gansey said. "Obviously Jaylen's one of the best players in the league, and to get him onto the roster with Tyrese, with VJ, with Joel, and then some of the free agents we got, obviously before all this it changed the game for us.

He also noted the potential James-Joel Embiid connection. Not only did Gansey mention James as a