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If you haven’t heard the news by now, the Golden State Warriors suspended second-year big man Jordan Bell for charging a hotel expense to assistant coach Mike Brown prior to Wednesday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
That’s the bulk of the information that has been revealed by beat reporters, but more of the story is leaking out - kind of.
A Twitter user who is a self-described ‘Dollar Store Basketball “Insider”’, but who has a history of reputable Warriors information, revealed the story as he knows it, in a series of tweets.
If you don’t want to take them seriously, here’s where it gets interesting: Bell took to Twitter to like each and every one of the tweets explaining the story, and retweeted the thread for his followers to see.
Here’s the story:
I GOT THE REAL STORY ABOUT THE JORDAN BELL SITUATION. YOU KNOW I ALWAYS GET THE REAL. NOT WHAT IS PUT OUT BY THE TEAM.
— GRADS (@MGRADS) March 28, 2019
So, as all teams do IN EVERY PROFESSIONAL SPORT, the vets mess with the rookies because it’s just a “rite of passage” to say the least. So what had happened was last year, when he was a rookie, his teammates would put LITTLE THINGS on his room, candy bars, sodas, etc etc
— GRADS (@MGRADS) March 28, 2019
So J Bell starting getting people back as a JOKE. He’d charge Wi-fi to KD or Q Cook’s room AS A JOKE(WiFi is usually free). It was nothing major EVER & it’s a INSIDE TEAM JOKE, so everyone knew about it.
— GRADS (@MGRADS) March 28, 2019
On their last trip HE CHARGED A CANDLE(NOT porn, you heathens) to Mike Brown’s room. A $15 CANDLE!!!!!! to his room & obvs Mike Brown wasn’t in on the joke, so he got his feelings hurt & thought he had been paying for stuff the whole time. Smh
— GRADS (@MGRADS) March 28, 2019
One of the All Stars on the team tried to tell Mike Brown it was just a joke & they’d pay for it but the team didn’t think it was funny, so that’s why. A candle. Not porn. Sorry y’all had so much fun with #Porngate but that’s not what happened.
— GRADS (@MGRADS) March 28, 2019
THE STORY WASNT SUPPOSED TO GET OUT, but you know those Ivy Leaguers who don’t know about the culture decided to send a text out to a friend & it snowballed from there. So that’s all that happened. A CANDLE got him suspended.
— GRADS (@MGRADS) March 28, 2019
Keeping on snitching media please. All clickbait ain’t good clickbait. Keep on following these “insiders” though. ✌
— GRADS (@MGRADS) March 28, 2019
So there we have it.
On the one hand, this story - assuming it’s true - paints Bell in a much better light than much of the speculation was doing.
On the other hand, it feels like a slightly tumultuous situation. The Warriors organization obviously didn’t see it the way Bell did, and that may be emblematic of a relationship that isn’t functioning very well.
Is the team frustrated with Bell, and unwilling to give him the benefit of the doubt? Did they jump to a conclusion, and upset him in the process by costing him money and potentially hurting his reputation?
Even with the story out, it seems clear that there is work to be done in the relationship between the team and the impending restricted free agent.
UPDATE: Beat reporter Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle has reported that the story is reasonably accurate.
Just confirmed with a source close to Jordan Bell that this is a "pretty accurate account of how things went down." https://t.co/o1rgZhKhb6
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) March 28, 2019