The big sports news story on Wednesday had nothing to do with basketball, yet it has become the hot topic among NBA athletes.
Thursday has seen many players weighing in on the Manti Te’o story.
While there may be ongoing investigations seeking to determine the truth of the matter, it has not stopped people on the internet from throwing around their opinions—many of which are negative.
Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star forward Kevin Durant spoke out on Te’o’s behalf to ask his tweeps to leave him alone.
Wednesday, Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey broke the Manti Te’o hoax story on Deadspin.com.
The basis of the story—if you hadn’t heard about it already—centers around Notre Dame middle linebacker Manti Te’o, or more precisely, his (presumed) late girlfriend Lennay Kekua.
At the beginning of the 2012-13 NCAA college football season, the story of how Te’o had endured both the loss of his grandmother and Kekua (his girlfriend) in the same day instantly turned the Fighting Irish star into the sentimental favorite of the mainstream media.
His story [and concurrently Kekua’s story] painted the portrait of a young man enduring a lot of hardship and emotional pain during the course of his senior season for a contending football program.
Suddenly, a week-and-a-half after losing the BCS National Championship, news broke that his girlfriend was an elaborate hoax—she never really existed.
Details of the story are still being figured out, holes in the hoax are being discovered and people everywhere are being quick to judge.
That is why Durant stepped in, and he wasn’t alone.