It was not just the NBA community, but the whole world was shocked when, out of nowhere, ESPN’s Shams Charania dropped the news of the wildest trade in league history.
“BREAKING: The Dallas Mavericks are trading Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick, sources tell ESPN. Three-team deal that includes Utah,” Charania wrote in a post on X, 12 minutes past Saturday midnight.
“Did somebody steal Shams’ phone??,” Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo wrote on X after Charania’s breaking news.
Charania made sure to let his 2.5 million followers know his phone wasn’t stolen nor hacked with a follow-up post: “Yes, this is real.”
Three-time NFL Super Bowl MVP and champion Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs said what everyone was thinking.
“Wait what?” Mahomes posted shortly on X after Charania’s breaking news of the shocker of a trade.
Mahomes followed it up with another reaction post on X: “I’m sick [right now].”
“Yoo [what the expletive] going on in Dallas?” Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons asked on X.
NBA Stars Stunned
New York Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, who just lost to the Lakers 128-112 a couple of hours ago at Madison Square Garden also expressed their shock.
Brunson bombarded X with a series of posts starting with tweet-quoting Charania’s breaking news on X with: “Wow!” followed by: “Holy [expletive]!” and then he ended it with: “April Fools, right?”
Hart’s reaction to X is just like everyone else’s: “Huh?????”
New Orleans Pelicans star and current National Basketball Players Association president CJ McCollum cannot wrap the news around his head as he posted on X: “I can’t tell what’s real and fake anymore on these apps. Luka really going to the Lakers or nah?”
“Wow it’s real lol 😂 I’m going to sleep,” McCollum said in a follow-up X post.
“WOWWWWW NO F WAY,” wrote Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid on X.
Embiid’s co-star Tyrese Maxey wrote on X: “HUH!!!!”
Sacramento Kings star De’Aaron Fox, who was the headliner of this NBA trade deadline before this shocking deal could only post this on X: 🤯
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo also just posted emojis on X to describe his feelings about the trade: 🥶🌎
‘Has To Have a Deeper Story Behind’ the Trade
Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson was in disbelief.
“This wasn’t on my bingo card for Saturday night 🤯🤯 ” Thompson initially wrote on X.
“Luka getting traded from Dallas has to have a deeper story behind it. This just doesn’t happen on a random Saturday night,” Thompson said in a follow-up post on X.
Charania shed more details when he reported on SportsCenter that it was the Mavericks who approached the Lakers and offered Doncic.
The players involved and LeBron James along with the coaches were not briefed before the deal was made, according to Charania.
“LeBron James had no idea this was coming. Anthony Davis had no idea this was coming. I’m told Luka Doncic is still stunned about this trade,” Charania said.
MMA journalist Ariel Helwani summed it up best.
“Forget NBA, this has to be one of the most stunning trades in North American Sports history. No rumors. No whispers. The face of the franchise shipped off just like that?! Gotta be more to this story. Truly shocking. And I feel so very sorry for Mavs fans. How do you come to terms with this?!” Helweni wrote on X.
Patrick Mahomes, NBA Stars React to Lakers-Mavericks Shocking Trade