One of the more common refrains of sports fans, especially those who call into Sunday morning radio shows, is that the local sports media is cynical, negative, don’t ever see the glass as half full. Pat Reusse, even to my jaded ears, wears on me with his utter disdain for so many sports figures, historical and current.

Then something reminds me why he’s right.

If you had been online last night at approximately midnight, you would have realized that long after the NBA draft ended, the Timberwolves pulled off a huge trade, sending its highly regarded number three pick, OJ Mayo, to Memphis for the less-than-sure-thing Kevin Love. A passel of other players changed hands as well.

I’m not going to evaluate the merits of the trade, look here for that, and here’s some trenchant background.

After I read the news on the Star Tribune’s website, I scanned the rest of the sports articles, and my jaw dropped. Under Sid Hartman’s name were these words, “Wolves wanted Mayo all along”. Clearly the sports legend had written his column before the midnight trade. Under Jim Souhan’s byline: “Wolves made the right choice [Mayo]”.

Hartman’s column, now revised with the headline “Wolves liked Mayo and Love”, was particularly embarrassing. “There was never any doubt,” he wrote. “Wolves assistant general manager Fred Hoiberg verified Thursday night that Mayo was their choice all along. Hoiberg said the Wolves never came close to making a trade. The truth of the matter is they think so much of Mayo that they wanted him on the team.”

“Our people thought that Mayo had far more upside than Love,” Wolves owner Glen Taylor told Sid.

Later in the column, team boss Kevin McHale told Sid that the Wolves “couldn’t be happier” guard Greg Buckner is under contract, as he’s a role model and teacher. “He is a world-class kid.” Buckner was traded to Memphis along with Mayo.

I am not here to bury Sid or Souhan for that matter. And I’m sure the Wolves, at Friday’s press conference, will tell the media the trade came up out of the blue, the team didn’t expect it, and it only traded Mayo because it was able to acquire other key players and unload stiffs. And that may be partly true, but it’s also partly b.s.

The team has deservedly taken a lot of heat over the years for bad basketball and poor management decision-making. Pat Reusse laid it on the line earlier this week. It is certainly entitled to hate the local press and mislead them on draft night (though when you speak to the press, you are speaking to your fans, I’d remind them).

But Sid is a different story. He may not always support you, but he is the only sportswriter in town that always gives management the benefit of the doubt—the opportunity to spin disingenuous drivel in the name of authoritative source material—and a guy who never takes a cheap shot.

The Wolves knew it was dangling Mayo, knew something might be brewing, and knew it valued Love almost as much as Mayo. They all lied. Someone owed it to at least Sid to whisper, “Hey, more may happen tonight, don’t run those quotes until you check with me” or something to that effect. It happens all the time.

Instead, Taylor, Hoiberg, and McHale demeaned themselves and the entire Wolves organization by their disingenuousness and burned the one local scribe who always roots for their success.

Classless.