Trade & FA 2024-25:

[Tyler]

Sure, but we factually KNOW that more than half of these nuggets leaked to the "real" reporters are plants meant to gain leverage and negotiate publicly, and we all seem to take those seriously. We eat the cheese every single time.

Yeah, I get that. But when it's known reporters talking, you can at least interpret their words through the lens of their known motivations. LA reporters spread the LA line, Windy loves LeBron, Woj and Shams get tips by spreading agent propaganda. That's all normal. It's the endless flood of anonymous Twitter insiders that wear me out sometimes, as they just follow the SEO for clicks and change identities every year to avoid anyone checking their accuracy. 

I always think back to DFWSportsGuy who was big a few years ago. I actually bothered to read his history and it was clear it was just a dude who knew nothing and switched personas when FA came around. When I pointed it out, he deleted the old posts. And eventually he just vanished, likely adopting a new handle. 

Another example is the HawkSquawk forum that used to be often quoted (and I still read sometimes for kicks). They had so many "insiders" posting conflicting fake info that the mods actually had to crack down on it.

Long story short, I love this time of year just as much as anyone else and read rumors all day, too. I just think it's fair to point out which sources are credible and which ones really aren't.