Did Jabari Parker Deliberately Have a Lackluster Workout With the Cavs?

Since news of Joel Embiid’s foot injury emerged last week, there hasn’t been anything concrete one way or another about whom the Cavaliers will select with the first pick in Thursday’s draft — Jabari Parker or Andrew Wiggins (though several have reported that the team is leaning towards Parker).

Usually generally disregarded in these types of conversations is where the players prefer to go, and there are rumors out there that Parker would rather play in Milwaukee than Cleveland; earlier today, Chad Ford wrote that some are wondering if Parker “tanked” his recent Cavs workout to give himself a better chance to fall to the Bucks:

It’s unclear why Parker would purportedly prefer Milwaukee — maybe it’s as simple as wanting to be closer to his hometown Chicago? — and one source’s conclusion drawn from a workout is not necessarily indicative of something Parker did deliberately. Nevertheless, Ford writes that Cleveland is still “leaning” towards picking the former Duke player because he’s more NBA ready than Wiggins, and better fits the team’s needs. A trade is also still a possibility.