Shams Charania pretended he had new Giannis information yesterday when in reality he had nothing.

A national sports media member thinks Giannis is leaving Milwaukee??

First of all, credit where credit is due: Shams Charania presented NO new information yesterday as it relates to Giannis’ offseason plans. As in 0.0 new information. He threw a ton of qualifying words like ‘maybe,’ ‘potentially,’ ‘open minded,’ etc. and then added a ‘per sources’ on it and because he’s the biggest NBA reporter on Twitter it took off like a house of fire on Twitter. It takes talent (?) to say nothing and go viral the way he did yesterday. That’s the new-age media dream.

But if you read the “report” itself, he doesn’t say anything that we didn’t know already. The Bucks are entering an offseason like we haven’t seen in MANY years in Milwaukee. They’re up against it with the salary cap, they don’t control a first round pick until 2031, Dame is likely out of the year, and Giannis is a player who wants to compete for championships. We knew ALL of this the second Giannis and Tyrese Haliburton’s dad were going forehead to forehead at the end of Game 5 two weeks ago.

Now could Giannis eventually ask to leave Milwaukee? Sure. But if that happens, it has NOTHING to do with the reporting done yesterday. Yesterday was NBA Draft Lottery day on ESPN, it was Celtics/Knicks Game 4, it was a day where ESPN wanted all of the conversation to revolve around the league they have primary broadcasts rights for. So you have your most followed reporter drop a ‘bomb’ early in the morning, and then the rest of the day it’s all anybody can talk about on every subsequent show.

But at the end of the day, this was a nothing burger. Giannis is ‘open minded’ about his options? Yeah, no s– Sherlock. I’m open minded about getting paid more money at a new job too. I’m open minded about taking a nap today. I’m open minded about having some BBQ tonight. This was all an ESPN talking-point boondoggle.

PS: The NBA is NEVER beating the allegations that the NBA Draft Lottery is rigged after last night. Forget the countless other times that a team with low odds and a decent storyline won the #1 overall pick, last night took the cake. At the trade deadline this year, the Dallas Mavericks inexplicably traded Luke Doncic to the Lakers. Doncic is a once-in-a-lifetime player who JUST LED THE MAVS TO THE NBA FINALS last season, and is only 25 years old. They trade him to a heritage franchise, in a major media market, without even shopping him to other teams. Uh huh, okay. Then last night, the Mavericks had a 1.8% chance to win the Draft Lottery, and lo-and-behold, they did it! They now get to draft a potentially transformational player in Cooper Flagg #1 overall. Wow! What luck!

Double PS: It looks like Jayson Tatum blew out his Achilles last night. The Celtics were already talking about salary dumping this offseason, now he’s probably out for all of next year, just like Dame. The Cavs look like they’re a bit of a mess with injuries and about to be eliminated by the Pacers. Unless something seismic happens in the offseason, the East is WIDE OPEN and by far the weaker conference. Giannis would be crazy to decide to go to the Western Conference, even if next year is a gap year in Milwaukee.