ATLANTA — There were internet rumors first. That’s the way of the world.

Did Donte DiVincenzo, the former Knick turned Timberwolf, step to the free-throw line, look back at Tom Thibodeau and yell, “Thanks for the trade, Thibs?”

It sure looked like it. Maybe sounded like it, too. These things are hard to tell. Social media certainly thought so. Fact-checking be damned, the story picked up steam.

It was assumed DiVincenzo yelled those words at the Knicks last month because of context clues and because non-experts said so.