San Antonio Spurs: Dejounte Murray laughs off Ben Simmons rumor

As more teams begin to join the San Antonio Spurs as playoff watchers instead of participants, the rumors continue to grow. The latest rumors have involved three-time NBA All-Star Ben Simmons after his disappearing act in the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks.

While the Spurs are one of a handful of teams with cap space and pieces that could work for a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers for Simmons, it's important to be realistic about what would and wouldn't work for both sides. As I pointed out when blasting this online trade proposal I came across yesterday, not all rumors and propositions are worthwhile.

Tuesday afternoon, Dejounte Murray found another such Simmons rumor ridiculous, expressing his reaction with 65 crying emoji faces:

The truth behind the San Antonio Spurs "rumor"

The aggregation site AHN Fire Digital cited Spurs writer and podcast host Noah Magaro-George as their source for the alleged quote from Bruce Bowen. In the original tweet, it was stated that Bowen made this comment recently on an ESPN SA radio program: "I know Pop very well and I assure you they would trade anyone on the Spurs roster for Ben Simmons."

As it turned out, after following up with Spurs digital journalist Jeff Garcia, Magaro-George later redacted his original tweet and eventually deleted it.

Noah later admitted he wasn't as diligent in vetting his source, which is an understandable oversight, and was quick to make it known that the story wasn't verified completely. While it was a small misstep, he's easily one of the most reliable and tapped-in follows on Spurs Twitter.

Still, the story has caught on with big NBA Twitter accounts like @TheNBACentral, which currently has over 280 quote tweets and 1,800 likes linking to the post.

Obviously, Murray feels that the rumored words from Bowen are laughable, as many Spurs fans would agree that maybe not everyone should be available for a trade for the 24-year-old.