We've got some drama in the NBA Twitter world.
Veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein, who now works at The New York Times, reported last week the Clippers were "closing in" on hiring former Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue. He tweeted the news on Aug. 14.
The Clippers are closing in on the hiring of Tyronn Lue as a top assistant to Coach Doc Rivers, league sources say
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 14, 2019
Shams Charania, once a Woj understudy who now works at The Athletic, tweeted the news six days later.
Former Cavaliers championship coach Ty Lue has agreed on deal to join the Los Angeles Clippers as the top assistant coach on Doc Rivers’ staff, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 21, 2019
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The difference between the two reports is Stein saying the two sides were "closing in on" a deal while Charania said the deal was official. But at the very least, he could have included a line saying "@TheSteinLine reported the news first." Not a huge deal, but it's often common courtesy among top reporters.
Since Charania didn't include that line, Stein saw it fit to call him out on it the next day.
Congrats to @TheAthletic and my many, many colleagues there on the 600K subscribers. Two cents from an old hack: Perhaps a good corresponding goal is to cease with presenting the NBA news reports of others as your own because it reflects poorly on the name at large
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 21, 2019
Stein also added, "Apologies to the colleagues I lumped in here who shouldn't be lumped in here. The quarrel is exclusively with one reporter. Poor form from me."
The first tweet was a not-so-subtle jab, but the second tweet made it very clear he was addressing one person in particular. And if you couldn't read between the lines, Stein retweeted a fellow media colleague who explained what was going on.
Charania has not yet responded publicly to Stein's complaint. We've reached out to The Athletic for a statement and will update if we get a response.
