Deep Ish: Looking for deeper meaning from a deleted tweet

At 9:15AM on February 4, Thunder third string point guard and early-season injury hardship signee Ish Smith tweeted and deleted that he was headed to the Lakers. Curious, to say the least.

It’s uncertain how quickly the tweet was deleted, but it doesn’t really matter. This is a world where, with so many eyes on you, a tweet can be screen captured and spread again before you actually complete the delete process.

(On a side note, an accompanying pic made the rounds that claimed to be Laker forward Nick Young saying he was headed to the Thunder. Don’t buy it. It’s a bad Photoshop job, perhaps intentionally.)

If the Thunder were to trade Smith, it couldn’t happen until February 7. Smith was signed on November 7, and players in Smith’s situation cannot be traded for three months or until December 15, whichever is later.

What could this all possibly mean? Here are the possibilities.

“I’ve Been Hacked!”

At 7:56AM on February 5, Smith tweeted that his Twitter account was hacked. That’s a tried and true, go-to excuse for many. It’s entirely possible that Smith’s account was hacked, or that a friend or relative was playing a joke on him. But indications are that the original tweet was deleted very quickly. It’s possible that Smith was playing on Twitter at that very moment, saw this tweet of his that he did not compose, deleted it and proceeded to protect his account. That scenario might qualify as “hacking”.

Otherwise, why would anyone really want to hack Smith’s Twitter account? Who would want to leverage his account to spread a false trade rumor? That pales in comparison to July 2012 when James Harden’s Instagram account was reportedly hacked and a photo was posted claiming he had been traded to the Hornets. Those are the kinds of accounts to hack.

Thunder Obsessed contributor Jason Damiano became the Dark Knight Detective and concluded that the deleted tweet shared many similarities with Smith’s other tweets, such as the use of “u” in place of “you” and the frequent use of double exclamation points. If the deleted tweet wasn’t Smith’s, then someone spent a lot of time researching his tweeting habits. There are many bored folks in this world with not enough to do (such as me, because I’m writing an article about a deleted tweet involving Ish Freakin’ Smith).

Premature Announcement

Perhaps the Lakers and Thunder (and maybe others) have agreed to the framework of a trade that will be completed after Saturday. Perhaps Smith was alerted to this and misunderstood the details, and tweeted out a premature announcement.

It sounds plausible until you think about it some more. Why would Smith be alerted to a deal that wouldn’t happen for several more days? Perhaps this is common, but more often than not, players get the news unexpectedly and have to proceed to the nearest airport.

In this scenario, the Thunder would have to agree to a deal involving Smith that wouldn’t happen for several more days, let Smith know it’s coming, and then make Smith available to play in two games leading up to the supposed trade. Does that sound like a Sam Presti Approved scenario to you?

A Big Trade Is Coming

Because we are fans, we tend to think big when it comes to trades. Small trades are no fun. Blockbuster trades are. Some folks zeroed in immediately on Lakers center Jordan Hill. Granted, if the Thunder considered Brook Lopez, it’s not a reach to think they’d also pursue Hill. But Hill makes $9 million this season, and the only way to close that salary gap would be to include Kendrick Perkins, who played 23 helpful minutes against the Pelicans on Wednesday night. He’s likely to suit up again Friday night against the same opponent. If there’s a deal in place, one awkward landing could squash the deal. This is why players are frequently pulled from lineups in advance of a trade.

A Small Trade Is Coming

This is “Meet Joe Black” levels of boring, but not every trade is one of landscape-altering, senses-shattering proportions (Hasheem Thabeet for a protected second round pick, anyone?). The Lakers have been nailed with injuries this season. They are currently starting rookie Jordan Clarkson at point guard and backing him up with Jeremy Lin and Ronnie Price. They could see Smith as a better alternative to anything on the free agent market.

The Lakers have a full 15-man roster and have not been granted an injury hardship, to my knowledge. Because Smith is on a minimum salary contract, the Lakers could acquire him without having to surrender matching salary. They would, however, have to have a roster spot for him. That could be as easy as releasing a player such as Price, or it could mean an equally minor player could come to Oklahoma City. Stop the presses.

A Big Misunderstanding

All of this analysis over a deleted 132 character tweet could be all for naught. The simplest explanation of all is that this is one big misunderstanding. Someone heard something from someone who knows someone and that made its way to Smith. We probably shouldn’t assume everything in life is logical.

But if Smith is indeed traded to the Lakers, credit him for scooping everybody.