ESPN’s ‘Around the Horn’ Debates Report by Fake Twitter Account: ‘It’s of Course Legitimate’

ESPN’s “Around the Horn” Thursday debated a tweet by a fake Twitter account claiming Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James would leave Cleveland for a Los Angeles team to take down the Golden State Warriors.

“Let’s talk this headline I read,” host Tony Reali opened the segment. “This is from Wojnarowski, so it’s of course legitimate. But is it legitimately seismic or just NBA in summer? Roll it. ‘LeBron will opt out of contract in 2018 to form a superteam and defend himself in L.A., league sources tell The Vertical.’ Tim, reading that, do you think it’s a possibility, do you think it’s reality or do you think it’s a fallacy?”

The tweet shown on “Around the Horn” was by @WojVertiolNBA, a fake account for The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, instead of his actual Twitter account @WojVerticalNBA, which has a blue checkmark to verify its authenticity.

LeBron will opt out of contract in 2018 to form a super team and "defend himself" in LA, league sources tell @TheVertical pic.twitter.com/vg3qlxLBbY

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojaspn) June 13, 2017

Reali later accepted blame for being tricked by the fake tweet, saying none of the show guests referred to the fake tweet, but rather the reports by the real Adrian Wojnarowski on his podcast.

I got us @AroundtheHorn burned bad today by a fake tweet (fweet). Uggg this feels the worst.

— Tony Reali (@TonyReali) June 15, 2017

This was 1000% on me. None of crew referred to tweet, but rather sourced w/real Woj podcast scoop (which was not far off) & their own info.

— Tony Reali (@TonyReali) June 16, 2017

(h/t Awful Announcing)

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent