Listening to national podcasts today, it's clear the damage is done. Everyone thinks Portland is in the wrong and the medical staff should not be trusted. Not a single outlet bothered to investigate past the intial Athletic hit pieces. Lawyer up, Jody.
I don't think so. IIRC the Blazers would have to prove the Athletic acted with malice. In cases of libel or slander I think incompetence is not a liability....might even be a good defense. The old "honest mistake" shield
Ringer nba show. Vernon repeated verbatim the athletic article including the "shot up" comment. Howard Beck and Mannix excoriated the Blazers for not only the lack of "ambition" with our moves but also reported that other teams are angry at what "Portland did." Even Lowe and Herring referenced something untoward being done in negotiations, etc.
To be fair, these are the same people who will make fun of fans for knowing more about the cap than them.
This is probably because Cronin & Co kept quiet and let the Karens down in San Fran shape the narrative without any pushback.
Wow. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0lnNseFHdaDXwZlFum9wBz?si=RRAjN1zERviXVJ4fGg7wPg Around 22 min mark. Wos had intel from Warriors side. He said Joe Lacob really did not want to trade Wiseman, while Myers and the coaching staff and players all wanted Payton back. So they sold the owner on a guy who will help now. When Payton got his physical, the doctors found a lot of scar tissue as a result of a surgery from an injury he sustained as a Warrior. Internally they tried to claim that if this was anyone but Payton the "failed" physical would have voided the trade. Myers is trying to save face by blaming Portland. So long story short, Wos thinks all this noise is just the owner being pissy that he lost his guy in Wiseman and then the org trashing Portland in the process.
We have out own ownership problems to blame for that but at least they arent as bad as GS apparently.