Klay Thompson rumors: Fake news outlets will kill us all one day

Yesterday, the internet blew up as former Celtics’ player Brian Scalabrine made a bold claim on Frank Isola’s radio show. He said Klay Thompson was being made available in a trade and that the Boston Celtics had significant interest in him. More specifically, he claimed that the Celtics were in talks with the Warriors, and that they would send Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and the Nets’ first-round pick in exchange for the All Star Splash Brother.

But, hold on. Where did he get that information? Did he have a sit down with Danny Ainge wherein the maverick GM confessed to some sinister plan to shake up the foundation of the league?

No.

Turns out, Brian Scalabrine just reads doomsday sites.

Are. You. F’ing. Kidding. Me?

Yo, if the supermoon doesn’t kill us all, it’s going to be these godforsaken fake news sites that eventually do us in.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the unfortunate rise of a disgusting internet trend, one wherein there is zero accountability, zero empathy, and zero consequences (in the form of sanctions, banning, etc), and where the total end goal is to create click-baity posts that are easily shared, easily consumed, and lead to easy advertisement money.

Ahh, how simple those times felt, just a few weeks ago.

Without really getting into it—because if you feel anything like me, you’re 100% wiped from dealing with and talking about “this past week”—I’m going to drop a few links. This is an interesting article. As is this. This quick post elucidates the dangers of aggregated news sources.

We apparently live in a world where the truth has no bearing, where honesty has become meaningless. Instead, we bounce from story to story, constantly wondering what can possibly be true. Who should we believe?

After Brian Scalabrine accidentally set off an internet firestorm by quoting a fake site, the NBA world (luckily) auto-corrected.

The Warriors immediately came out, addressed the issue, and (rightfully so) claimed they’d never, ever, ever, not in a million years ever had those types of conversations with any team, let alone the Celtics. People opened their eyes, removed themselves from the non-information’s tendrils, and said, “Oh, yeah, duh. That wouldn’t make any sense. Why would the Warriors do that, and how did I ever believe that was a thing? Also, why am I getting my main NBA scoops from Brian Scalabrine?”

But, we are fortunate. The NBA is chock-full of intelligent players and fans who are hardwired to question everything. For a sports league, the NBA is incredibly self aware. Having that innate sense of doubt—that built in need to question, prod, and poke—keeps us on our toes. Keeps us from falling into the dark rabbit hole of misinformation.

Perhaps my man Zeets put it best:

So, anyways, stay woke y’all. The zombie fake news outlets are coming for your soul, and the only thing that will fend them off is maintaining an even keeled, rational sense of reality. Remember to question everything. Remember to always, always check the source before reposting.

Also, this will help. It has a certain soothing je ne sais quoi.

The supermoon isn’t here to kill us, it just wants to hoop.