NBA Trade Rumors: Bulls Have Not Acquired Pelicans’ Anthony Davis [Debunked]
NBA trade rumors come in many types. Some are the result of leaked information about actual trade discussions that are going on behind the scenes. Other times, these rumors stem from bits of legitimate information that are put together like puzzle pieces to create a potential trade scenario. Finally, there are some that blossom completely from someone’s imagination, typically for the benign purpose of discussing these “fantasy trades” with other NBA fans.
Occasionally, someone in the media will bite on one of these rumors and falsely report them as fact, and a recent example of this raised the blood pressure of many fans in the Chicago and New Orleans areas. It all began with an opinion piece published by Fadeaway World, which offered three possible trade destinations for Pelicans superstar center Anthony Davis. The No. 1 destination is listed as the Chicago Bulls, primarily based on the theory that Davis might like to return to play in his hometown.
A website called NBA Love It then used the Fadeaway World article as a basis for a piece entitled “NBA Trade: Anthony Davis to Chicago Bulls, Rajon Rondo to New Orleans Pelicans in five-player deal.” Whether this was just an honest mistake or an attempt to bait readers, the headline gives the viewer the distinct impression that the Bulls and Pelicans have agreed to a five-player deal involving Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo — which, of course, would be big news if it was true.
Upon reading the article, the specified trade is reported as Anthony Davis going to Chicago for a package that includes power forward Nikola Mirotic, point guard Rajon Rondo, shooting guard Denzel Valentine, and a future first-round pick. This is actually not the trade rumor that was reported in the cited article; the original Fadeaway World piece suggested power forward Taj Gibson as part of the proposal rather than Rajon Rondo. Also, neither of these are five-player deals as stated in the NBA Love It headline — only four players would be changing teams according to these reports.
RELATED ARTICLES ON THE INQUISITR:
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- NBA Trade Rumors: Anthony Davis To Warriors, Klay Thompson And Draymond Green To Pelicans
- NBA Trade Rumors: Hassan Whiteside To Celtics, Jae Crowder And Amir Johnson To Heat Highlight Five-Asset Deal
Other inaccuracies aside, the main issue here is that the article title does not indicate that this is a trade rumor or a suggested trade proposal, it reports the deal as if it is a confirmed transaction. This situation apparently received enough attention to prompt fact-checking website Snopes to address the false assertion that Anthony Davis had been traded to the Chicago Bulls. Even Snopes misreported some of the details, discussing it as a reported five-team trade (when the article in question stated it was a five-player deal). In any event, their overall analysis of this false report is correct.
Anthony Davis has become one of the best players in the game today, currently averaging 29.1 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 2.5 blocked shots per contest on 50 percent shooting from the field and 80 percent marksmanship from the free throw line. Due to the fact that the Pelicans do not have a strong roster around Davis, NBA trade rumors have been circulating for weeks that the team might consider unloading Davis if they receive a blockbuster offer for his services. For now, he is still in New Orleans, as verified by Basketball-Reference.com.
Rajon Rondo is on the other end of the spectrum, as he has fallen out of favor quickly in Chicago. Rondo was brought in to run the team from the point guard position, but he has been benched by head coach Fred Hoiberg, so Rondo’s name has been coming up regularly in the rumor mill since he could have value to another team who is looking for a veteran point guard. Rotoworld confirms that he is still with the Bulls at this time.
NBA trade rumors point to all sorts of potential deals, some of them plausible, some of them not. In this case, a rumor that was making its way around the internet was mistakenly reported as an actual trade between the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Pelicans. The truth is, there has not been a deal made between these teams, and even the original rumor appears to be pure speculation.
[Featured Image by Michael Dwyer/AP Images]
