Eric Gordon says Clippers lied to him about trade

[Andrew]

Story at Yahoo! NBA:

...while Gordon and Kaman are excited about the opportunity to start over with the Hornets, they aren’t too happy with their former team.

“All you do is take the man’s word and take that he said that no one is going to go anywhere,” Gordon told Yahoo! Sports. “… To completely lie like that is something unprofessional.”

After trade talks with the Hornets stalled Dec. 12, Clippers general manager Neil Olshey and coach Vinny Del Negro gathered the team’s players who had guaranteed contracts and told them the franchise planned to move forward with its current group. Gordon and Kaman now think they were deceived. Olshey disagrees.

“I’m not deceptive enough to look players in the eye and tell them something that is not true,” Olshey said. “And I can tell you from an ownership level, the president of our company, myself, we made a corporate decision Monday morning that when the deal didn’t go through on Sunday night we would no longer pursue the trade. And that’s when we notified our players, to get the elephant out of the room during our abbreviated training camp.”

We're left to speculate since none of us were there, but "lied" might be too strong a word. If we're to take Olshey's word at face value, trade talks fell apart and they were ready to move on, but were then made an offer they couldn't refuse. They might have been too quick to give such definite assurances to Gordon and Kaman given that an opportunity to land Chris Paul was involved and talks had only just broken down, but they could've well meant it at the time and circumstances changed when the new offer was made.

[[Q]]

yeah they tried quickly to prevent a Lamar situation but mightve done it a bit too quickly. they didn't anticipate the NBA getting them Billups and then actually trading them CP3

[RedPhazon8]

I thought they were vowing to keep him no matter what, I remember seeing somewhere before the trade went down that they would not deal Gordon. It happened though so I guess we have to deal with it...

[The X]

They definitely lied to him. All along they said he wouldn't be in any Paul deal. They indicated to him that they wanted to lock him up long term. In the end glad he's not with crappy Clippers so it worked out well for him.

[Andrew]

They definitely lied to him. All along they said he wouldn't be in any Paul deal. They indicated to him that they wanted to lock him up long term. In the end glad he's not with crappy Clippers so it worked out well for him.

They did? He claims they told him he wouldn't be traded at the time talks broke down. Additionally:

Said Gordon: “They literally told me as an organization that they wanted to keep me, and [the trade still] went down?”

They may well have wanted to keep him, but that's not a guarantee that they will, especially if a player like Chris Paul becomes available.

[Patr1ck]

Basically, they didn't want to give up both Gordon and the draft pick. I can only assume that once they landed Billups, that changed because they wouldn't have that hole at sg. I don't believe he lied to him initially, but went back on his word.

[rise]

This kind of thing happens all the time. Last February, the Bobcats staff assured everyone, including Gerald Wallace and Paul Silas that Wallace was not going to be traded. Yet, he was traded less than 24 hours later. I remember reading a big long article about it. Stuff like this usually comes out right after a big trade, particularly with players who have been with their previous for some time. It's not really a big deal. I think Gordon will have fun scoring 28 points per game as the main option in New Orleans.

[Andrew]

I don't believe he lied to him initially, but went back on his word.

I'd say so too. It still means they didn't handle the situation as well as they could have; he probably gave assurances that he really couldn't or shouldn't have, given the nature of trades and player movement in professional sports. Circumstances obviously changed and the team had to act quickly or miss out on Chris Paul. It's unfortunate the way he found out about the trade, but inevitable given the way leaked news is immediately sent around the world via news sites and social media.

[The X]

Going back on your word vs lying? To me however you cut it, it's in similar vein. You tell somebody you have no intention of trading them & a day or two later you trade him, obviously you haven't been entirely truthful. Why not tell him, "look, unless we have a chance to get a superstar like Chris Paul or Lebron James, we won't trade you"? I guess the truth hurts.

[Andrew]

I guess it is splitting hairs but again, circumstances change. We don't know the exact words that were used here, though Gordon mentioned that he was told they wanted to keep him. That in itself isn't a guarantee that he won't be traded, though it's certainly possible that the actual words were chosen poorly and promises they couldn't reasonably keep were at least implied. Presumably he was told that the deal was off and he wasn't being traded...which it seems was true at the time it was said. However, the Hornets came back with a new proposal and the Clippers felt they couldn't pass it up. It's a situation that could've perhaps been handled better, but it's questionable as to whether he was truly lied to.

I must admit the usage of words like "lie" and "liar" has become a pet peeve of mine, because I feel they're thrown around way too liberally. It's an accusation that gets trotted out whenever there's a misunderstanding or false assumption, or the proverbial spanner is thrown in the works and there's some change in circumstances. It implies deception and dishonesty in situations that aren't necessarily black and white.