Two NBA trades leaked over the past week, but neither is official. It’s worth asking, “Why?”

Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN on Monday, the Denver Nuggets “are trading” JaMychal Green to the Oklahoma City Thunder with a protected 2027 first-round pick for the No. 30 pick in the upcoming draft and two future second-rounders.

Shams Charania of The Athletic (and Wojnarowski at nearly the same time on Wednesday) tweeted that the Dallas Mavericks “are sending” the No. 26 pick, along with Boban Marjanovic, Trey Burke, Marquese Chriss and Sterling Brown for Christian Wood.

Basketball reasons aside, why was that information purposefully shared with two of the highest-profile news breakers in the industry—presumably by someone with the Nuggets, Thunder, Mavericks and/or Rockets? Why wouldn’t the teams execute the deals, then share the news?

While it’s not an official title, the media functions as a tool of the NBA. Media is a vital go-between in a league that relies heavily on fan engagement. A basketball game is at most three hours, but the hunger for news is year-round. That may range from player-involved profiles to detailed analysis of a team’s offense—Wojnarowski and Charania are the top NBA transactional reporters.

Beyond keeping fans in the loop, the media informs teams of completed decisions, even if the transaction can’t go through for a week or so.

For instance, the Mavericks owe their 2023 first-round pick to the New York Knicks (for Kristaps Porzingis). Per the Stepien Rule, Dallas cannot trade away its 2022 first without exploiting one of the rule’s many loopholes. The Mavericks can make the selection on behalf of the Rockets, then execute the trade. At that point, Houston is trading a player’s rights, not a future draft pick. The deal won’t be legal until after Dallas executes that pick on June 23.

Denver and the Thunder can execute their trade once Green’s paperwork is resolved. The veteran is among the many players with pending options for 2022-23. He can’t be traded until he opts into his salary at $8.2 million. Similarly, Burke recently opted in with Dallas at $3.3 million (he’ll also receive a 7.5 percent trade bonus from the Mavericks for $247,500).

Occasionally, a team will wait until the last possible moment to execute a deal on the chance that another franchise wants to join in to make a multi-team trade. Perhaps Oklahoma City is open to rerouting Green to a third team if that proves beneficial to both the Nuggets and Thunder.

Could any of the four teams back out of the leaked deals? Sure, as nothing is official or binding. A media report is just a media report. But it’s very rare for an NBA franchise to renege on a deal. Some fall apart on a failed physical, but that’s within the structure of the agreement.

A deal reported by Wojnarowski or Charania is generally treated around the league like it’s a done deal. That doesn’t mean bad information doesn’t get out now and again. The Los Angeles Lakers were near an agreement with the Sacramento Kings for Buddy Hield, which was accurate until it wasn’t. As Montrezl Harrell was opting into the final year of his contract, the Lakers reversed course and completed a deal with the Washington Wizards for Russell Westbrook.

The process isn’t perfect, but the “Woj bombs” or “Sham bombs” are usually on target when reporting transactions. They are a very visible part of the media and its unofficial partnership with the NBA.

Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter, @EricPincus.