Caveat emptor.
It’s the first rule of being a consumer, and the Minnesota Timberwolves ignored it. Now they stand little chance of getting any extra compensation from the Portland Trail Blazers in the Martell Webster trade.
For those of you need to brush up on our Latin, caveat emptor means “let the buyer beware.”
The Timberwolves have reportedly asked the league to investigate if Martell Webster — who is currently out six weeks following back surgery — was already injured before the June trade, but Portland kept it hidden.
Good luck with that was essentially what TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott found when he started asking around about it.
First, notice how before every trade (in nearly every sport) the player undergoes a physical? Don’t pass the physical and the trade can be rescinded. Kind of like having your own inspector check out that house you were going to buy, not just take the word of the seller. The Timberwolves had that opportunity and found nothing. Plus, common sense might have helped, as one front office executive told Abbott.
It gets worse — for Minnesota to win this, they have to prove that Portland withheld injury knowledge it had. Portland may well have not known about any injury, but even if they had you have to prove they knew it and chose not to pass it along. Very, very hard to do.
So, Wolves and David Kahn — caveat emptor.