Shams vs WOJ - The War of Words Over Dan Hurley

As highly entertaining as the Dan Hurley to the Los Angeles Lakers story has been, it was equally if not more entertaining to watch Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski go at each other in what I like to call the war of words over Dan Hurley.

Charania clearly took some direct shots at WOJ over his reporting of the Dan Hurley/Los Angeles Lakers situation appearing on FanDuel's "Run It Back," Charania questioned the authenticity of Hurley's interest in the Lakers job and whether or not it was just a way for the Huskies coach to gain negotiation leverage with his school.

"He was not the No. 1 candidate, the No. 1 guy to go pursue from the start, from the beginning. But they felt like there was an opening there. At the end of the day, Dan Hurley chose not to leave. He chose to stay for $20 million less at UConn… it does beg the question around the league, was there genuine interest? Was this a genuine process with this? Or was this just about leverage?" said Charania.

WOJ also has personal ties to the Hurley family, which sports media watchdog Joe Pompliano pointed out on social media yesterday.

"It's almost like Dan Hurley leaked all of this through a trusted media source (who literally wrote a book on his dad) to secure himself an even bigger contract at UConn," Pompliano claimed. "Woj gets a big scoop, the Lakers get to say we tried, and Hurley gets a huge raise. Win. Win. Win."

THE UNDERRATED OPINION
In the era of social media, scoops have essentially become instant facts, and while both Shams and WOJ are traditionally very careful about how they word and announce a scoop, the reality is they both live on the fringe of the truth and what may be the truth some day.

So, to watch Shams indicate that JJ Redick is the top candidate for the Lakers head coaching job when, at the time, he had only had one in-person meeting with the Lakers seems a little bit like hitting the gas before the green light goes off. As for WOJ, his reporting was less misleading than Charania and I seriously doubt that WOJ would risk his reputation purposely pushing a false narrative for Dan Hurley which is really what Shams indicated earlier in the day on the Fan Duel Network.

My opinion on this whole situation is pretty simple: It primarily involves Rob Pelinka completely dropping the ball while meeting with and negotiating with Hurley. I seriously doubt Hurley would fly all the way across the country simply to try to upgrade his status with the school he has led to back-to-back NCAA Championships.

I believe Hurley flew to Los Angeles to accept the job, but Pelinka blew it.