Report: Woj says ‘no negotiation’ going on between Sixers and Nets currently

This update is less fun.

Is your head spinning yet?

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has checked in on the state of the discussions between the Sixers and the Nets on the blockbuster deal that would send Ben Simmons to Brooklyn and James Harden to Philly, and, quite contrary to his colleague Brian Windhorst, who reported earlier today that we’d all safely entered the Deal Zone (cue music), Woj says that the Sixers and Nets are actually not negotiating at all.

This is all very odd. Somebody is quite wrong. Rumors have been swirling for days now that the Sixers and Nets have been haggling over the ancillary pieces to get this deal over the finish line, so to now hear from a reporter as trustworthy as Woj that the two teams aren’t discussing this trade a day before the deadline whatsoever is perplexing. Also, contradicting Windhorst’s quite emphatic report from hours prior adds another layer of intrigue to the whole situation.

This is the height of misinformation season, folks. Teams are leaking information to all of the top men and women to sway the narrative in ways that they see fit. This deal is likely to last right up until the buzzer sounds.

Interestingly, within the past few hours, Windhorst went so far as to say that Harden, himself, desperately wants this deal to get done, and that he’s essentially aching for a Philly-bound exit from Brooklyn.

My guess is that the truth lies somewhere in between these reports. While we may not be as cozily immersed in the Deal Zone as Windy intimated, I simply cannot imagine that Philly and Brooklyn are leaving each other on ‘read’ at this point, some 26 hours from the deadline, both with unhappy stars on their rosters.

The truth will come out sooner or later, and we’ll keep you posted right here.