Who or what is CNN Sports? Nobody knows including NBA on TNT insider Chris Haynes.
TNT’s Adam Lefkoe attributed “CNN Sports” being first on then-ESPN’s Doc Rivers being hired to be the next head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. But the social media reaction was more about the mysterious identity of “CNN Sports” than it was that Rivers was exiting ESPN to join the sidelines – yet again.
Despite TNT’s endorsement of the CNN report, senior insider Haynes disputed the information.
Appearing on the Awful Announcing podcast, host Brandon Contes asked Haynes if there had been any backlash to his refuting the CNN Sports report.
“Well, that wasn’t Lefkoe’s news,” said Haynes. “He was relaying that. I don’t know who (CNN Sports) is. I still don’t know who that is. I trust my source. I had a very good source on it.”
Haynes clarified that while the Doc Rivers deal was in the works and eventually finalized, it wasn’t a done deal at the time Adam Lefkoe reported it, citing CNN Sports. He explained that the official announcement came a couple of days later. According to Haynes, things were moving in that direction, but at that specific moment, the information he and others had was different from what was being reported.
And his source may have just been someone directly involved.
“As far as my source, my source was gold on that,” he says. “I felt good about that one. They don’t get no closer than that source I had, if that makes any sense.”
Contes followed up with Haynes, asking if he heard from anybody from Warner Bros. Discovery about those conflicting reports, being that Haynes is its senior NBA insider.
“Somebody came up to me and asked, ‘How did this all happen?’ And I explained it to them, like I explained it to you,” Haynes told the AA podcast host. “But, Nah, there was nothing that came about it because they were confused as well. But nothing came about it. There was nothing like, ‘OK, like this is the protocol mandate.” It was just weird because, again, who is it? Who is CNN Sports? Who is this individual?
“I remember when I was looking because before you report things, you want to know first and foremost, like if I get some news information, the first thing I do is look and research if this is out already, just to make sure I’m not stepping on anybody’s toes. And so, I’m looking for this CNN Sports. I’m like, ‘Who is this guy?’ And I can’t find the guy or the woman responsible for this report. And so, I’m thinking it’s fake news. That’s what I’m thinking.
“I would just say this: it bothered somebody so much about that news that they reached out to me to relay that.”
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About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.