Ranking the Best and Worst Expert Sources for NBA Trade Rumors

The NBA's trade deadline is just 10 days away. Get ready for 10 days worth of rumors, speculation and all-around craziness.

In times like these, you really have to know whose word you can trust. There are going to be a lot of people spreading rumors around, and you have to take care not to believe all of them. There will be a lot of rumors, but relatively few valid ones.

The valid rumors tend to come from the same usual suspects. It's therefore no surprise that the invalid rumors also tend to come from a select group of usual suspects.

If you're going to go rumor hunting no matter what, here's a helpful guide for who you should be listening to.

Best

4. HOOPSWORLD

It seems like all HOOPSWORLD does is report trade rumors. 

This is a good thing.

It's true that some of HOOPSWORLD's scoops end up going nowhere (the Pau Gasol-for-Rajon Rondo rumor, for example), but that's bound to happen given the sheer quantity of rumors they report on a daily basis. Few sites, if any, provide as many rumors as HOOPSWORLD. 

You can go to HOOPSWORLD's rumors section and just click refresh all day if you feel like having some fun. They'll keep their own rumors coming, and they'll also keep you up to date on what other sources are saying, too.

In short, it's a good operation.

3. Marc Stein, ESPN.com

Marc Stein occasionally will use Twitter to break trade rumors, but his M.O. is to gather up a ton of information and publish it in extended reports.

What I like about Stein is that it's not uncommon for him to let readers hear about a certain situation directly from the key players. His bit on Steve Nash from early January is a prime example, and so was his scoopage on the Pau Gasol situation that he published late last week.

The only real problem with Stein's stuff is that you need ESPN Insider to access it, which is a few extra bucks out of your pocket. But if you really love your trade rumors, I'd say an ESPN Insider subscription is worth it just to get your hands on Stein's scoops.

2. Sam Amick, Sports Illustrated

If Sam Amick has something to report, he's going to make sure you know every last detail.

Most recently, Amick has been dropping some pretty great Dwight Howard scoopage. He published an extended report on the Howard situation shortly after the All-Star break that revealed all sorts of behind-the-scenes info.

This past weekend, he updated the Howard situation again, and also shed some light on some other major trade scenarios.

If he wanted to, Amick could break his scoops one at a time on Twitter. Instead, he gathers as much information as he can, and it's simply way too much for 140 characters or less. His scoops are always presented in detail.

Good man.

1. Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports

Adrian Wojnarowski is the best NBA insider in the business. Hands down.

As anybody who was plugged into the situation will well remember, Wojnarowski was all over the Chris Paul mess when it was ongoing in December. He was also all over the Howard trade negotiations that were taking place before the start of the season.

Wojnarowski will occasionally reveal trade rumors in long reports, a la Amick and Stein, but he's definitely not averse to revealing his scoopage on Twitter.

He often can get to the bottom of a given rumor in 140 characters or less, occasionally telling you everything you need to know in a single tweet. If he needs more than one tweet, he'll go ahead and fill up your timeline to make sure you have the whole story.

It's safe to believe most, if not all, of what Wojnarowski reports. He's plugged in better than any NBA writer in the world.

Worst

3. Chris Broussard, ESPN.com

Every now and again, Chris Broussard will generate some pretty good scoops. He's not a guy you want to take off your radar completely.

However, some of Broussard's big scoops end up being much ado about nothing, which is basically a way of saying they end up being completely untrue.

Case in point, Broussard reported last week that the Boston Celtics were "aggressively shopping" Rajon Rondo. Apparently, the team was tired of his attitude, not to mention his constant squabbling with head coach Doc Rivers.

A couple days later, Jackie McMullan of ESPNBoston.com reported that Rivers was annoyed with the report, and he went out of his way to make it clear that he and Rondo have a very good relationship.

McMullan also noted that Rivers had talked with Celtics boss Danny Ainge for well over an hour, and the topic of a Rondo trade never came up.

The majority of Broussard's scoops are good, but he occasionally will drop one like this. The scoop will get people all riled up, and the key figures involved invariably rush to squash it.

2. RealGM.com

RealGM.com is a site that I don't have a huge problem with, but one of the site's reports from way back in early February ended up causing an unnecessary fuss.

In that report, it was claimed that Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard had a conversation with one another in which Kobe apparently told Howard that he wanted him to come to LA to be his "Tyson Chandler."

The site claimed Howard "was turned off by the idea," as he should have been.

This report was completely debunked by none other than Kobe himself when Peter Vecsey of the New York Daily News took the time to ask him about it directly. Kobe said it wasn't true, and he didn't come off as being very happy to have to address it at all.

1. SheridanHoops.com

I'm putting SheridanHoops.com on this list mainly because of the Derrick Rose/Pau Gasol mess that unfolded in late February.

If you weren't paying attention to it, the whole thing started with a report from a Spanish website that Rose had lobbied for the Bulls to trade for Gasol. 

SheridanHoops.com quite literally took that report and put it in English, reporting that Rose had communicated to Bulls management that he wanted to play with Gasol.

This resulted in a firestorm, one that ultimately led Chris Sheridan, the man who filed the initial report, to backtrack and say that he never reported that Rose had told anybody anything. He had merely "let it be known."

It's still vague as to exactly what Rose did or didn't tell anyone. In retrospect, it would have been better for everyone if SheridanHoops.com had reported nothing at all. 

If you're a trade rumor junkie, I recommend paying attention to everyone and every site on this list. They'll all be passing along rumors in the next 10 days, and they won't be the only ones.

And though some of their rumors will be quickly debunked, it's fair to say that none of them will be completely fabricated in the first place.

Just be cautious when it comes to the three rumor sources I mentioned. They've gotten in trouble in the past, and for good reason.