Early Friday afternoon, Mercury News reporter Shayna Rubin broke the message that Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry will not have his injured left foot re-examined until after the regular season is over. The implication of the tweet is clear: Curry will miss the remainder of the regular season (five games), which calls into question whether he will be ready for the playoffs.
Steph Curry, who is out with a sprained foot, will be re-evaluated after the end of the regular season, according to league sources.
— Shayna Rubin (@ShaynaRubin) April 1, 2022
The immediate, overwhelming response to Rubin’s tweet was a flood of Warriors fans asking if this was an April Fool’s joke. It wasn’t because she’s covering the team professionally, of course, and making an April Fool’s joke about the team you’re covering would be incomprehensibly short-sighted. But some of the fan skepticism likely has to do with the unfortunate reality of NBA news in 2022: The vast majority of big hitters will be delivered by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Stadium’s Shams Charania.
Woj and Charania dominate the scoops game as scoops are their only interest. Their sourcing methods have been questioned because they and some other national scoop hunters have shown a willingness to shape stories the way their sources — usually agents or team leaders — want.
But Woj in particular has a massive following of 5.2 million people on Twitter, so on the rare occasions he ends up with a story, his inevitable follow-up tweet is often seen as the last word on the subject. Fifteen minutes after Rubin’s tweet on Friday, Woj dove into the Curry saga and tagged fellow Kendra Andrews with one quite different assessment the situation: Curry could still return during the regular season, and he’s being re-rated in a week, which is still close to the end of the regular season.
Golden State’s Steph Curry is expected to have his left foot sprain re-examined in a week – and a regular-season return for a single game has not been ruled out – but can still be expected to return for the start of the playoffs will tell sources @kendra__andrews and me.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 1, 2022
Wojnarowski’s report, like Rubin’s, cites several unnamed sources. So who is right?
Ruby, not Woj. Within minutes of Woj’s tweet, the warriors released a statement Confirmation that there will be no Curry updates until April 11th, which is after the end of the regular season. There’s no hedging in the dubs’ explanation, just like there was no hedging in Rubin’s, right other reporters who soon chimed in on the situation: Curry is out for the rest of the regular season, and there’s no indication he’ll be re-rated in “a week,” so April 8, not April 11.
Despite this, Wojnarowski and Andrews penned an article at 1:01 p.m. confirming the Warriors’ announcement that Curry will miss the remainder of the regular season. They did not quote Rubin for breaking the story, nor did Wojnarowski attempt to explain his shifting information in 40 minutes. The ESPN article also vaguely reiterates that Curry will be re-rated in “one week,” though that doesn’t match the April 11 date of the dubs.
Ultimately, that’s no big deal; you could even call it a “looker” and I wouldn’t disagree with your assessment. But here’s the thing: When Rubin, a local reporter, published a now-demonstrably accurate news story, she was met with disbelief and even hostility of people who quickly sided with Wojnarowski, the national scoops-getter. Let this serve as a friendly reminder: national sports scoopers are not infallible, and if they get it wrong (even a small mistake like this!), they won’t bother to break the record – although you should.