NBA debunks Reddit conspiracy theory about Jaren Jackson Jr.’s

Like many modern-day conspiracy theories, the one involving Memphis Grizzlies forward-center Jaren Jackson Jr. began on the Internet by an anonymous poster on Reddit.

The redditor, u/AdMassive6666, posted early Saturday morning a 1,589-word missive titled “MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES SCOREKEEPER POSTING FRAUDULENT NUMBERS FOR DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR LEADER JAREN JACKSON JR.”

Within, the redditor points out that Jackson has almost twice the number of blocks at home than he does on the road and accuses the Grizzlies statistician of being overly kind and “padding” Jackson’s defensive stats.

As of 4:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, the post had 3,500 comments, and it spilled over to Twitter where it gained even more traction, and it was the NBA topic of the day.

It is a serious accusation since the statistician job’s is rooted in integrity, and statistics play an important role in determining awards and honors, specifically in Jackson’s case Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defense. Stats have also taken on greater importance in gambling especially prop bets when wagers can gamble on how many blocks a player has in a game. Sports leagues have embraced this, taking accountability to another level.

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The redditor pointed out that Jackson has 66 blocks and 22 steals at home in 16 games and 37 blocks and 12 steals on the road in 17 games. Specific plays were cited and other redditors provided video “evidence.”

No conspiracy theory, especially in the NBA, goes unchecked. Some of the best basketball media members went to work, including The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, Boston Sports Journal’s John Karalis, ESPN’s Kirk Goldberry, who specializes in basketball data and wrote the book “Sprawlball,” and The Athletic’s Seth Partnow,…