Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk used to be the assistant manager of the Golden State Warriors. Speaking to CBS Atlanta, Schlenk made it clear that he doesn’t buy the rumors that LeBron James will end up with Golden State. Schlenk also noted that he thinks the rumors were leaked by LeBron and his camp.
“I would be really, really surprised if LeBron went to Golden State,” Schlenk said, as transcribed by Dan Feldman of Pro Basketball Talk. “The one thing I will say about Mr. James: He is the master at using the media to get whatever story he wants out there. He’s perfected the art of the social-media game. I think that those things were probably leaked by them, by Mr. James and his camp.”
The Warriors themselves obviously don’t put much stock in the rumors.
At least publicly, LeBron has made it clear that he doesn’t want to talk about any rumors. Of course, his status as the league’s best player makes that impossible, especially when we remember that he’s jumped from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat and back since 2010.
LeBron can say whatever he wants publicly. But it’s still easy to believe that the rumors came from his camp. We can’t ignore that the Cavaliers have been struggling. We also can’t ignore the reported rift between the player and front office, making it highly possible that this could be used for leverage in a number of ways.
None of that means definitively that LeBron or anyone in his camp did leak the rumors. But it certainly is a plausible conclusion to draw.