For nearly all professional athletes, getting traded is a hard reality, especially if a player works hard to find success in an organization. Josh Hart, who was sent from the Lakers to the Pelicans this offseason, believes his former team could have made the process of trading him easier to handle.
“I played my ass off for the purple and gold,” Hart said (via his Twitter account). “Played hurt and never had an excuse. I’m truly grateful to the Lakers organization and I do understand the NBA is a business. But as a player you just want the courtesy of a phone call saying I got traded and not finding out on Twitter.”
The Lakers jettisoned Hart, Lonzo Ball, and Brandon Ingram along with a bounty of draft picks to New Orleans in the Anthony Davis trade.
For the Lakers, it was a chance to raise their ceiling; for the Pelicans, it was a chance to begin a rebuild after realizing they were going to lose one of their best players in franchise history. Hart, along with Zion Williamson and a bevy of new faces, will usher in a new Pelicans era during the 2019/20 season.
That’s not always possible if a FO insider sells the info to Woj or Shams before the trade call is made and Pelinka was not planning to inform the players until after everything became official.
*the agreement was finalized, not official
This. Plus players, like anyone else, are deep into this site and Twitter, so it’s inevitable.
If I recall correctly, that’s pretty much how the White Sox found out that Manny Machado was signing with the Padres. SD leaked the info to an insider and it broke on Twitter before the Sox were ever informed.
Was going to say the same thing. The team wouldn’t tell players until a trade is 100% agreed to, and by then it’s usually way too late
This is 2019 Josh. Things break on Twitter. Get over it.
…and you ain’t good enough to be sat down and talked to. Move on bro.
Gee Whiz Lakers,
When it comes to communicating
with Josh,
Have a HART !!
Twitter always has the news before any other outlet even before a phone call. We know the NBA draft picks via twitter before they happen. We know that POTUS took a dump via twitter before it even drops in the bowl.
LeBron didn’t bother telling him before making the trade.
I so hope Westbrook takes out hardens knees this year.
They are one the same team tho
I agree that some of these athletes don’t need to be coddled, but it is a good gesture to at least maybe while the deal is in process of being finalized to let him know, “hey, this is close to complete.”