The J-Notes
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Utah Jazz: Did Danny Ainge just get snookered by a fake Ricky Rubio?

By Ryan Aston

BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 1: Danny Ainge looks on as Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward get introduced as Boston Celtics on September 1, 2017 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 1: Danny Ainge looks on as Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward get introduced as Boston Celtics on September 1, 2017 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Danny Ainge spent the weekend rubbing elbows with the likes of Utah Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio… or did he?

Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge may be a Utah guy — he won a Wooden Award at BYU as a collegiate and is a member of the state’s predominant faith — but there are likely few people in the NBA that Utah Jazz fans would rather see with egg on their faces. After all, he once helped orchestrate the exodus of their team’s star player to Boston.

Sure, Gordon Hayward and Brad Stevens were the big culprits there, but Ainge was ultimately the one tasked with dotting the Is and crossing the Ts to make it all happen. So, a large segment of the Jazzland masses were probably tickled by reaction to a tweet Ainge fired off over the weekend.

Ainge was at The Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach, California for the Crewe Cup, a charity golf tournament for which he serves on the board of directors. While there, he snapped a pic with a who’s-who group of big-time basketball personalities. Namely, former Jazz star Deron Williams and Hall of Famers Jason Kidd and Ray Allen.

When Ainge tweeted the picture out, he also tagged Jazz point-man Ricky Rubio, who was apparently in the picture as well.

Or was he? You be the judge —

https://twitter.com/danielrainge/status/1043205310658174976

So, clearly, Ricky Rubio isn’t in that picture, which leads one to a myriad of questions.

Is Rubio somehow in California behind the camera or did Ainge really mistake the man to his left for Utah’s Spanish floor general? Did said person snooker the Celtics GM into thinking he was Rubio as part of some sinister con? What were D-Will and the rest of the crew thinking as this all transpired?

Whatever the case may be, some of the replies to Ainge’s tweet were social media gold. One tweet insisted the man pictured was actually Ruby Rickio. Another opined that Rubio must have had a rough offseason. Here’s my personal favorite —

dark. Next. Are the Jazz trolling the Pels with their purple jerseys?

In any case, Ainge remains one of the Association’s best basketball minds and maybe its top GM; we’ll forgive him for this case of mistaken identity. I know that I, for one, have had more than my fair share of social media gaffes.

However, given his role in luring Hayward to the Celtics, it’s probably safe to say that the forgiveness ends there.

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