Denver, UConn media unite to refute fake Dan Hurley-Denver Nuggets report

In the free-wheeling age of NBA Centel and Ballsack Sports, you have to check and doublecheck any report you come across on social media.

Still, given how often people get duped, including those who work in sports media, there’s always going to be enough suckers out there to make a story go viral, especially when it fits a narrative that seems plausible, facts be damned.

This brings us to a report on X by “Sean Wright,” an “NBA Insider” who says they’ve been featured on outlets like ESPN and CNN (but doesn’t seem to work anywhere). The account tweeted Wednesday that “#UCONN head coach Dan Hurley and the Denver Nuggets have mutual interest in the #Nuggets head coaching position. Sources tell me Hurley is expected to meet with the Nuggets brass soon.”

The Nuggets fired head coach Mike Malone on Tuesday in a stunning move just days before the NBA Playoffs. It stands to reason they would want to replace the NBA championship-winning coach with a big name. So it made sense to a lot of people who saw Wright’s report and jumped to the conclusion that it sounded legit. Hence, it went viral.

While Wright probably picked up some followers over the “report,” the problem with going viral is that your work comes to the attention of actual reporters and media folks, who can easily confirm whether it is true or not.

On the Denver side, that would be Woody Paige, longtime columnist for the Denver Post and The Gazette, who said, “There is no mutual and no interest.”

Paige also went to the initial post and shared a short-but-sweet response.

On the UConn side, there’s Daily Campus reporter Sam Calhoun, who covers UConn basketball extensively. He also offered a succinct reaction to the “report.”

As always, keep your head on a swivel out there. And for the love of god, double-check who you’re trusting before you blindly reshare something, especially on X, the everything app.