Carmelo Anthony and the 10 Biggest Liars in the NBA
I'm going to shock you here: People lie. Every single person has told a lie, no matter the significance.
Some lies are to save a loved one's feelings. Some lies are to get out of sticky situations. Some lies are just simply for the fun of it. Some lies are even necessary.
Then there are other types. The ones that feel so unnecessary, so unbelievable that you wonder why the person just doesn't tell the truth.
There is almost no industry (other than politics and economics) that lies more to the public than sports and their athletes.
And, recently, there has been a wave of lying in NBA circles. LeBron James still "loves" Ohio and thanks Cleveland for his time there...over a month after "The Decision." Carmelo Anthony never asked for a trade out of Denver. Chris Paul loves playing with a group of YMCA league players.
That begs the question, who are the biggest liars in the NBA today?
Well, that's why I'm here. Here are the top 10 liars in the NBA....
10. Chris Paul
1 of 8
Biggest Lie: "I never wanted a trade. I'm perfectly happy spending the prime of my could-be Hall of Fame career winning 35-40 games per season."
A few years ago ESPN.com's Bill Simmons anointed Paul as "Evolutionary Isiah [Thomas]", meaning that his skill set, toughness, and leadership matched Thomas, but his game also included a shooting arsenal that Thomas never developed.
At that time the Hornets were a 50-plus win team looking to be on the verge of consistent contention with the Western Conference elite.
Now they're lucky to contend with the Western Conference mediocre, have an owner that looks as if he's taking ownership lessons from Donald Sterling and have a fan base that couldn't really give two gosh-darns if the franchise stays or goes.
Does Chris Paul want out of New Orleans? Absolutely. And anything else he says is simply media conjecture because Paul doesn't want a LeBron-esque reputation.
9. Shaquille O'Neal & Kobe Bryant (tie)
2 of 8
Biggest Lie: Doesn't that nauseating photo tell it all?
I realize it has been over a year since this orchestrated charade happened at the 2009 NBA All-Star Game.
I also realize that it's basically been proven through both actions and words that neither man meant a word of the "it's all in the past" rhetoric they gave in the moments following their collusive co-MVP selection.
Shaq and Kobe hate each other for reasons both professional and personal. They are one of the few compelling individual rivalries left in sports, despite O'Neal being a shell of his former self.
That night, and especially that picture, is one of the NBA's biggest lies of the past decade. So despite its relative forgottenness (if that's a word), both men are an automatic inclusion on this list for their participation.
7. The Maloof Brothers
3 of 8
Biggest Lie: "No, really, we love Sacramento. The Kings aren't going anywhere!"
Let's be bluntly honest. The Maloofs have never wanted to keep the team in Sacramento and the franchise already would be playing in Vegas if the 2007 All-Star game wasn't such a disaster.
And, really, the city of Sacramento shouldn't blame the Maloofs one bit.
Attendance is consistently in the bottom half of the league, the city recently disapproved the construction of a new arena, and the Kings franchise didn't originate in Sacramento.
It's their franchise. They can do however they please. Just don't feed the fans a line of bull, um, pucky.
6. Pat Riley
4 of 8
Biggest Lie: "Coaching three potential Hall of Famers doesn't interest me in the least. Erik is this team's coach through thick and thin."
Of course Riles isn't going to publicly say he's interested in coaching Miami Thrice, but we all know he is. Spoelstra will get one crack at winning an NBA championship, much like Stan Van Gundy did with the Shaq-Wade nucleus, and if it doesn't work out, Pat will take over.
He's lying through his teeth. We all know it. Nothing left to say here.
5. Donald Sterling
5 of 8
Biggest Lie: Too many to count, but comes to a three-way tie in my mind: "If you renew your season tickets, I promise we'll be good next year", "I'm not a slumlord", and "I love black people".
The perpetrator of the perpetual lie, Sterling has been lying through his teeth ever since buying the Clippers in 1981.
Every season he goads season ticket holders into forking more money into a dead-end franchise, karmically cursed by his failures as a person. By reported all accounts, Sterling is a cheapskate, a bigot, and one of the five worst owners in the history of professional sports.
That is, unless you ask the man himself.
4. LeBron James
6 of 8
Biggest Lie: The entire period between June 26, 2003 and July 8, 2010.
We've all been told the story a billion times of the hometown boy who led his hometown team and its city to a prominence never before seen only to rip their hearts out in one of the most cold-blooded television specials in the history of modern media.
We also heard his half-hearted and far belated thank-you's to both Cleveland and Akron.
Because of the excitement/vitriol regarding the talent-taking forward and his new teammates, most will put "The Decision" on the back-burner and focus/obsess over their on-court performance. And that's for the best because we're all sick of hearing about it anyway.
Except in Cleveland where the citizens will look back on James' seven years in a Cavs uniform all having the same thought: "It was all a lie."
3. Carmelo Anthony
7 of 8
Biggest Lie: "I never asked for a trade."
The inspiration for this list, only for the fact his lie is the most recent and most unbelievable. Really, Melo? You never asked for a trade?
That's about as believable as Don Draper saying he's never cheated on his wife.
We saw the rumors, we read between the lines, and we know this is your last season in Denver. If you wanted to be there, you would have signed the three-year/$65 million contract that has been on the table for months now.
You want out, most of management wants you out, your teammates are indifferent, and, at this point, most Nuggets fans couldn't give a damn whether you ever don their uniform again.
There's no need to play the good soldier in the media, we all see the hypocrisy seeping through your teeth.
1. Billy Hunter & David Stern (tie)
8 of 8
Biggest Lie: Where do I even start...
These men don't just lie to a specific fan base, a specific client, or a specific anything. They lie on a daily basis to everyone.
Yes, I'm talking about collective bargaining negotiations, of which there seemingly are none. Both sides seem resigned to the lockout, yet they blindly expect fans to shill out their hard-earned dollars for a product that could be gone in eight months, all while lying every step of the way.
Billionaires aren't making enough billions. Millionaires aren't making enough millions. Supposedly the game's financial foundation is crumbling while we're on the precipice of the most intriguing NBA season in recent memory.
Make the necessary concessions, negotiate a new deal, and keep the product on the floor. Most importantly, stop lying to the people that line your already thick pockets on a yearly basis.
