There's An Anthony Davis Report Going Around, And It Sounds...Fishy

If you were scrolling through your social media Thursday afternoon, you might have seen a piece of basketball gossip worthy of attention.

“Report: Rich Paul wants his client, Anthony Davis, to be traded by next week.” Or something along those lines. Then, crucially, these two words are added: “Per ESPN.”

The sense of urgency in this headline certainly makes sense, as Davis has been on the trading block for several weeks now. With this season widely regarded as a lost cause for the Dallas Mavericks, a rebuild appears to be on the horizon, with Cooper Flagg as the team’s centerpiece in their post-Luka Doncic era.

But, before anyone gets in the weeds with this Dallas situation, the Rich Paul report needs to be scrutinized further.

After all, ESPN has a number of veteran reporters who regularly post intel on the workings of NBA teams. So, which ESPN personality came out with the original report about Paul’s demand for Davis?

Go through ESPN’s website and social media platforms, and you’ll find…nothing.

Casting even more doubt on this “report,” NBA insider (and widely trusted source) Marc Stein did even more digging. Here’s what he had to say.

“Asked about this repeatedly in the past hour … when I checked, [I] was told that no such request from Rich Paul has been issued. Such a request would make little sense with the deadline two weeks from today,” Stein tweeted.

While moving on from Davis (who has been his usual injury-prone self) is a move that’s on the table for the Mavericks, Stein is right when he says that there’s incentive for the team to let things play out until the week of February 5. If the Mavs continue to shop Davis in closer proximity to the trade deadline, teams might be more willing (and, indeed, more desperate) to let go of prized assets that Dallas could be asking for.

Still, some unidentified online user decided to post a faux report on Paul and Davis, citing “the worldwide leader in sports” to entice more clicks. Ultimately, this viral report might end up becoming a cautionary tale about verifying information posted on the internet.