Bill Simmons is firmly on the record as not being a fan of aggregation as it led to some headaches for him over the years. However, on most of those occasions, he still said what they said he said.
The Ringer founder, who has developed a reputation for throwing out big theories and claims, had another one on Wednesday’s episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast when he said that he thinks Draymond Green is currently trying to find his way to the Dallas Mavericks where he can play with Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, all three of whom will eventually be joined by LeBron James.
“I think [Draymond] ends up in Dallas with Kyrie and with Luka, and then LeBron tries to figure out a way to get there eventually,” said Simmons. “Yea, that’s my prediction. Kyle, put this in my file of predictions to be unleashed, like, 18 months from now.
“Feeling a Dallas scent. There’s some Dallas stuff that feels scent-y to me.”
The Twitter account NBACentral, which has slightly over 1 million followers, aggregated the first part of Simmons’ tweet and framed it by saying “Bill Simmons thinks Draymond Green is plotting to team up in Dallas with Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic, and LeBron James.”
That tweet went viral and Simmons started trending on Twitter as NBA fans reacted to it. That also meant it caught the eye of Simmons, who took offense. Not to the use of the quote, which was entirely accurate, but to the framing.
“Plotting” definitely 100% a word I didn’t use or even insinuate. NBA Central is content aggregation after 5 drinks. https://t.co/2dSZXNdP25
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 29, 2023
“‘Plotting’ definitely 100% a word I didn’t use or even insinuate,” wrote Simmons. “NBA Central is content aggregation after 5 drinks.”
It’s hard to tell if Simmons misunderstood the framing of the tweet or just wanted to find something to get angry about. The account didn’t claim that he used the word “plotting,” but extrapolated from his quote that Green was doing…something…behind the scenes to make it happen.
Which, to be fair, is a fair assessment of what Simmons was saying.
However, as a Twitter Blue subscriber, the NBACentral account had the ability to edit the tweet and did so, removing the offending word and changing it to “Bill Simmons predicts Draymond Green will end up in Dallas to team up with Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic and LeBron James.”
Bill Simmons predicts Draymond Green will end up in Dallas to team up with Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic and LeBron James
“I think he ends up in Dallas with Kyrie and with Luka, and the LeBron tries to figure out a way to get there eventually. Yea, that’s my prediction.”
(Via The… pic.twitter.com/mI8XlQKfN8
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 29, 2023
No word yet on whether or not that appeases Simmons, or if he’s just mad at the account simply for existing.
If nothing else, the drama provides us with a glimpse at how these kinds of tiffs might go in the near future. Someone tweets something. Another person gets mad. The original tweet is edited, though the original version remains within previous quote-tweets in order to preserve context.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.