The Los Angeles Lakers were crowned repeat NBA champions earlier this month and the NBA Draft took place last week. These are not the most talked-about stories on basketball radio, however: Everyone is asking if LeBron James is leaving Cleveland and if Dwyane Wade will soon return to Miami to play with another superstar. The 2010 NBA free agency season has finally arrived.
James (Cleveland Cavaliers), Wade (Miami Heat) and Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors) headline a long list of all-star available free agents all under age 30 that also includes Amar'e Stoudemire (Phoenix Suns), Joe Johnson (Atlanta Hawks), David Lee (New York Knicks) and Carlos Boozer (Utah Jazz). Also in the mix is Rudy Gay a small forward for the Memphis Grizzlies who plays a role in the debate as a restricted free agent, which means any team with cap room may sign Gay to an offer sheet but the Grizzlies have the right to match the offer.
Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks) and Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics) both age 32 exercised their early termination options and declared themselves free agents as well. With all of these players available, the NBA landscape will surely change. Maybe it already has changed.
The free agency frenzy, which started July 1 at 12:01 AM, has seized the sports world. Throughout the season, teams and sports media approached every opportunity with this summer in mind. It has been a race to see which teams can ensure they have enough cap room to lure at least one of these A-listers. In order to increase cap room, teams typically trade players or buy out contracts. And with every transaction, sports news outlets make sure to point out how the deals impacted the particular team's standing for this summer.
So, the biggest stories of last week's NBA Draft were not that any of the 60 players drafted fulfilled his life-long dreams. The intrigue of the draft, rather, was how teams like the Heat and the Chicago Bulls maneuvered players and draft picks in order to boost their prospects of signing the well-known free agents represent.
During the NBA playoffs before the draft after every team with an impending free agent bowed out of the playoffs, viewers heard commentators asking the same question: "Will this be the last time we see (fill in free agent's name) in a (fill in team name) jersey?"
Yes, this summer is arguably the most anticipated summer in NBA history. Consistent speculation and conjecture stand out as the underlying themes of the free agency sweepstakes.
Additionally, in this age of journalism, writers are more concerned with getting a story first, rather than getting a story correct. Consequently, readers are inundated with a number of contradictory reports.
Last Sunday, ESPN's Marc Stein and Chris Broussard contributed on a report that claimed James would leave Cleveland and bring Bosh with him to Chicago. According to the report, an NBA executive said, "I think it's a done deal".
The very next day, Stephen A. Smith former ESPN contributor, current writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and host of a radio show on Fox Sports Radio reported that James and Bosh would team up with Wade in Miami.
"You're only as good as your sources, as a journalist," Smith claimed on his show on Monday. "And from what I'm being told, after hearing what everybody has to say, LeBron James will agree to team with Dwyane Wade. He's going to South Beach."
Do we believe Smith or the unnamed NBA exec? As recently as two weeks ago, Smith said James would be signing with the Knicks, but he has reported correctly on numerous stories in the past, including the falling-out between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant that led to O'Neal being dealt to the Heat.
Is ESPN, the pinnacle of sports information, really our most reputable source? A day after Smith reported James, Bosh and Wade would team up in Miami, ESPN's Broussard claimed that the three had a "summit" in Miami. When reporters in South Florida and representatives in Wade's camp denied the story, citing Wade's travel itinerary that included stops in Las Vegas and Chicago, Broussard tweeted, "Marc Stein & I have multiple sources who saw the players in Miami Sat. denials r smart since meeting could b tampering, but our info is good."
We break news here at The Dartmouth too, so we know how it works: All too often, those who do not know are talking, and those who do know are not. When the dust settles for the NBA, some teams will have to deal with the repercussions of the gossip-fueled free agency season, face their livid fan bases and explain why certain superstars are not in their old uniforms.
