Lakers' Austin Reaves, Taylor Swift Dating Rumor Started by Clippers Staffer

Before pop superstar Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce were ever linked to one another, the singer/songwriter was rumored over the summer to be dating Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves.

While Reaves quickly refuted the rumor, there is finally some clarity as to how it all started in the first place. According to Melissa Rohlin of Fox Sports, it was a Los Angeles Clippers employee who initially made up the story.

Rohlin noted that Zain Fahimullah, a social media design associate for the Clippers, was the one who "fired off a tweet from a burner account on June 5 to fabricate that the two were spotted at a bar."

The tweet garnered a total of 4.4 million views, and it was copied word-for-word by an aggregation account in a tweet that resulted in an additional 7.3 million views. Fahimullah, who is a Lakers fan, told Rohlin that he didn't have any malicious intent in posting the rumor.

"Austin is the trending boy, like the Lakers' darling of the summer," he said of choosing Reaves. "He just signed this [four-year, $54 million] deal. He's going to Team USA. Also, the contrast between Austin Reaves and Taylor Swift makes it even funnier. Austin being this small-town kid, like a farmer. And Taylor Swift being this mega-superstar. So, I think that's why I chose him."

Fahimullah said he didn't expect the tweet to gain as much attention as it did.

"I'm like, 'What?!'" he said. "I make a lot of memes and this was like the least effort I've ever put into one. And this is the one that just like blew up."

For his part, Reaves took things in stride when he found out about the revelation.

"Woooooooow," he said, with Rohlin noting that he dragged the word out for a few seconds. "That's crazy. That's actually funny."

While the rumor was quickly dispelled, Reaces has not been able to escape some banter from his teammates. Even Lakers head coach Darvin Ham recently joined in on the fun:

Reaves and the Lakers will open the 2023-24 season on Tuesday against the defending champion Denver Nuggets.