Fox Sports personality and First Things First co-host Nick Wright recently discussed four landing spots where he would like to see Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James potentially go in the future. From this, an incorrect report emerged which completely misconstrued his stance on the matter, which Wright pointed out on social media.
James was involved in trade rumors ahead of the 2024 NBA trade deadline, with reports suggesting that the Golden State Warriors were pursuing a potential trade for the 20-time All-Star.
Ultimately, nothing came of this, of course. But this led Wright to sit down on his podcast, What’s Wright? With Nick Wright, and discuss his ideal landing spots for James if he were indeed interested in leaving Los Angeles.
“Here is what I will tell you,” said Wright. “This offseason there are four places that I would love to see LeBron go. They are all in the Eastern Conference, and they all make sense, and they are all better run than the Lakers. They all could win a title with LeBron at this level in my opinion.”
Wright then had his co-host, Damonza Byrd, guess what teams he was going to suggest. Byrd was able to guess the first two teams, the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Bird then predicted the Miami Heat were the third team on Wright’s list, which ended up being the case. Wright then explained why the Heat would be a good fit for James in his eyes.
“The Heat are absolutely the next team (on the list). I love the ownership, front office, and coach. Playoff Jimmy (Butler), LeBron, Bam (Adebayo). He’s been there, his family loved it there. They might go to the Finals again this year. They haven’t been able to get over the hump.”
Well, Wright’s praise of the Heat as a landing spot he would like to see James go to was completely taken out of context. A Miami Heat fan with the Twitter/X username @dru_star first tweeted out a clip of Wright saying the Heat were “absolutely the next team” for James to go to.
“The Heat are absolutey the next team. I love the ownership, front office & coach. Playoff Jimmy. LeBron. Bam. He's been there. His family loved it there. They might go to the Finals again this year. They haven't been able to quite get over the hump.” – @getnickwright on Miami… pic.twitter.com/MjsczBTU2A
— Dru (@dru_star) February 21, 2024
This tweet was then referenced by several popular NBA fan accounts on Twitter/X, including NBA Central, a page that has over 1.5 million followers. The tweet from NBA Central based on the clip has over 554,000 views, which is obviously concerning because Wright’s comments were not an actual report based on any sort of factual information.
Nick Wright on LeBron James’ next stop: ‘The Heat are absolutely the next team’ https://t.co/cpUwqu4or7
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 21, 2024
Wright took notice of this post from NBA Central, calling out the inaccurate report based on his out-of-context quote.
“I tend not to respond to these types of things, but this is widely, ridiculously wrong,” tweeted Wright. I asked @DamonzaByrd if he could guess the *4 teams* that *I would like to see him* go to… and after correctly guessing Cleveland, he said Miami and I said he was right. This is insanity.”
I tend not to respond to these types of things, but this is wildly, ridiculously wrong.
I asked @DamonzaByrd if he could guess the *4 teams* that *I would like to see him* go to… and after correctly guessing Cleveland, he said Miami and I said he was right.
This is insanity. https://t.co/Se6gqQGMB7
— nick wright (@getnickwright) February 22, 2024
It just goes to show that context always matters. And now, hundreds of thousands of NBA fans are likely completely misinformed about this situation.
[Nick Wright on Twitter/X, What’s Wright? With Nick Wright on YouTube]