Memphis Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. was recently the subject of the dumbest controversy of the NBA season thus far.
Jackson was mentioned in a viral Reddit post accusing the Grizzlies scorekeepers of posting “fraudulent numbers” to improve the big man’s chances of winning the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year.
It is a lofty accusation and one that is fairly hard to prove, but the general thesis is that the scorekeepers in Memphis are embellishing Jackson’s stats and crediting him with blocks and steals he did not deserve. Reddit has since labeled the post as misleading.
But still, the conspiracy theory spread like wildfire and it quickly became one of the most widely discussed conversations on #NBATwitter.
Memphis Grizzlies’ scorekeeper is likely embellishing defensive stats for DPOY candidate Jaren Jackson Jr.
(via u/AdMassive6666 on Reddit) pic.twitter.com/KqqQGOQYuA
— Jon Asaad (@jaynbablog) January 28, 2023
The discussion was so widespread that his odds to win Defensive Player of the Year swung drastically during the same time period that the debate began to heat up.
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins described the entire situation as “foolish” and Jackson addressed the conspiracy as well.
Jaren Jackson Jr. on his Reddit stats conspiracy:
“I thought it was funny. I didn’t even understand it at first.”“But I saw that I beat the case!”
— Drew Hill (@DrewHill_DM) January 30, 2023
While he claimed that he didn’t understand what was happening at first, he now asserted that he has “beat” the case.
Jackson is absolutely correct; the odds are now back to where they were before this maddening conversation.
Here are some of the main reasons why it’s clear that this is a non-issue: