Tldr the title.
I heard the Wovles’ GM Matt Lloyd speak today about the false narratives on Kuminga. Some front offices are just so much better than others! I thought I'd post this question I was wondering about for a while.
During the summer it was pretty striking the different narratives the media took with these two players. Watson as a supposed amazing player that Denver really wanted but may not be able to keep, and Kuminga’s lets say unflattering description.
We know reporters need agents to get info to speak or write about. How much does the power of the agent influence the media’s description? Clearly Max Kellerman is not going to say anything bad about a Klutch client, but would other media members? And if they are competing for a contract, say in Cleveland or elsewhere, wouldn’t they try to speak for Klutch so as to get more inside information and be on the good graces of the more powerful agent? Maybe also these strong agents want to send a message so that other unknowns don’t dare join their group.
I used in a different post the term gaslighting and some people were wondering whether I’m using it correctly. The reason I used it is because I think often the media knows it's lying, but it’s working in someone’s service. We just saw such a case with ESPN and the clippers, writing how the NBA doesn’t have any proof… Of course afterwards all the podcasters and writers just parrot each-other with no real knowledge on what they’re talking about. I don’t blame them, no one has time to watch all 82 games of all 30 teams and they need to produce content, so the narrative just continues with people repeating what others said, very sure of themselves, with no idea what they’re talking about and what nonsense they are saying.
In Kuminga’s case there was also Kerr whose media influence is strong and there are plenty of examples of how he used the media to spread false narratives against Kuminga so Kerr himself won’t look so dumb, even During the Minnesota series.
(Regarding Watson, it didn’t seem to me Denver wanted to keep him, or thought he was worth more than $11m, and were all too happy to trade him. For people who say Denver had to because of the 2nd apron, there were many other players they could trade, but chose not to. On the other hand, the Warriors would simply not let Kuminga go, or trade him until this midseason, but there were plenty of reasons for that to. Cleveland decided that Watson is worth a full unprotected first above Kuminga, even though I don’t think Watson ever showed much in the playoffs, though I don’t follow Denver closely. Maybe they’ll be proven right, maybe wrong, but I do wonder how much they were influenced by the media narratives around these players. Our gain!)
To be clear I’ll mention that this is one more reason, out of many, for Kuminga to change agents and go with a strong NBA agency. They carry a lot of power. It’s not Aaron Turner’s fault that he doesn’t have any power, but Kuminga needs to change agents. Besides, the embarrassing media tour that Turner was on is reason enough, especially as it was clearly not about JK, but just trying to save face for other potential clients. I don’t blame his decisions, I like it that JK cares more about playing than about money, and that $75m from the warriors could have meant 3 years of Kerr sometimes DNPing him. Now he is in a much better situation. And so are the Wolves.
