NBA Free Agent Rumors: Don't Believe Everything You Hear (or Read)

Caught up in the NBA Free agent buzz I wrote an article on what team I believed that Lebron James would end up signing with. In my article, I looked at the latest odds from Borbuy Sports, and after some serious speculation on my part I choose the final destination to be the Miami Heat.

Now let’s face it since I don’t know Lebron James or any of his people that is a guess. Since I am not an NBA executive it is easy to dismiss my guess as a sports fan trying to figure out where Lebron will end up, but then a new story broke.

The story was originally written by the New York Times and then followed up and put out by ESPN . This story said: “The executive said he had gleaned from his discussions with other league executives that James is leaning toward joining the Bulls, along with Bosh, his teammate on the United States’ gold medal-winning 2008 Olympic team. The Times reported the executive did not want to be named because he was discussing a player who was not yet a free agent.” Wow, pretty exciting stuff right?

Lebron James and Chris Bosh will join the Bulls.

Not so fast.

Here are several reasons why you should not believe everything you hear (or read) when it comes to the free agent summer of 2010.

1. Mum's the word

Everyone in the NBA is an unnamed source because they can’t talk about it or they know that David Stern and the NBA will come down on them and hard.  So this leaves anyone from Mark Cuban, Steve Kerr, or an unnamed source to speculate where James will go. Since this is the hot topic around the water cooler these days everyone has an opinion and the fact that they can use the free agent rule to prevent them from giving their name out allows them to “guess” all day long on where Lebron will end up.

2. Don’t get caught

ESPN’s Ric Bucher makes a good point. Players just can’t make any deals right now, period. It again breaks all the NBA rules of teams dealing with free agents before the deadline. All of these players do not want to leave big money on the table so they want to go via a sign and trade. To do this, they have to have negotiations between agents and teams and this will take time. If it happens too early it is way too obvious. I am sure that teams deal behind closed doors but nothing at this point can be considered anything but speculation.

3. World Wide Wes

Like many of you, I am sure you have heard of this guy but not really sure what he actually does. One thing for sure is he has an influence in the NBA and has surrounded himself with important people. At last check he was being called an adviser of Lebron James and is the fountain of information that likes to get the rumor mill churning. Think about it. This is the same guy that said John Calipari is leaving Kentucky and will go wherever Lebron will go to coach basketball. He then said Chris Paul wants a trade and will join Lebron. Hype is good for his client and he put the whisper in the NBA executive’s ear that Lebron and Bosh will go to Chicago, and why? To get more hype for James. That’s all it is his hype.

4. This is Lebron’s moment

This summer is all about Lebron James. Do you think he will let it leak where he is going? I find it highly unlikely considering that this is his time in the spotlight. No one will talk about Kobe Bryant or the Lakers championship this summer. They will all be talking about Lebron James. He is going to soak it in, make sure he is going to the right place for him, and love every minute of it.

It’s fun to speculate about where Lebron James is going and as writers in the media, it is what we do. I would advise caution; be careful about what you buy into because in the end we are all just guessing until midnight on July 1st.