NBA Trade Rumors Make for Exasperating Offseason for All

As a sports writer, it's always fun to pay attention to the latest rumors going on in whatever league you are writing about. Some of your best stories come from trade and free agent rumors.

But currently in the NBA, all of the rumors take things too far. It has become borderline irritating to attempt to keep up with and cover everything.

With the shortened offseason thanks to the lockout, it's almost as if NBA wants as much news in one day as it can get. I guess it beats bad PR about lockouts and nixed trades, but there have been so many rumors flowing around that I don't even think league officials and other teams have the slightest idea of who's playing on what team at the moment.

Let's see.

First, there is Dwight Howard, who one day wants traded out of Orlando, and the next day, he's perfectly happy taking pictures alongside Mickey Mouse. Howard has flip-flopped his stance on being traded so much since the lockout ended that it's almost like he has it planned out ahead of time how he will feel on a certain day.

Then, there is Chris Paul, who's traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Then he's not. Then he's going to the Los Angeles Clippers. Then he's not. Now, he might be going back to the Lakers. Now he's going to sue the NBA. Now he's not.

The only team that it seems like Paul and Howard haven't been linked to are the Duke Blue Devils. They would probably be linked to them as well, but they refuse to sign contract extensions.

Any fan who's outside one of the markets attempting to land one of the superstars has to be getting annoyed by all of the rumors. Things have got to the point that it almost doesn't matter where the duo gets dealt to, just as long as it happens quickly so we don't have to deal with anymore rumors.

We talk about rumors involving Paul and Howard so much, it seems like they are the only two players in the league. It's almost similar to what fans had to put up with during the LeBron James saga a year ago.

What makes it worse is the lockout and the fact that it's almost Christmas, and fans haven't seen any basketball yet. Too much speculation and not basketball. That's been the biggest problem of all.

Maybe I will start a rumor about that.