George Karl once held contests with coaches to get fake trade rumors in the newspaper

Via The Plain Dealer: “on your mark … ready … set … go!!!” Once upon a time, head coach George Karl, for his own amusement used to have contests with his other coaching buddies to see who could get a fake trade rumor into a newspaper first. I would love to know what other coaches were in on this. It’s that time of year in the NBA, just 11 days before the Feb. 21 trade deadline when an innocent question might develop into something further, and players everywhere are a little more on edge. Each game might be a player’s last for a team, and there’s no way to know who’s available. Karl, for one, said he is careful to assure his players at this time of year that there’s not much they can do, either way, so there’s no point in fretting. “There’s this solid anxiety to this period of time for players,” Karl said. “So, how I can calm that and make them feel like, ‘Yeah, a trade could happen, but it’s a small, small percentage.’” Karl said he tries to avoid media in the days bef