DALLAS — A little before midnight on Feb. 1, ESPN Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania pressed the “post” button and sent shockwaves around the sports world.
His post on X: “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.”
To date, it has been viewed over 105 million times.
The effects of the trade are still felt a month-and-a-half later, with seemingly no end in sight. It’s a news cycle that never ends. Fans have chanted or shown signs saying “fire Nico [Harrison]” in the wildest of places.
The time between Feb. 1 and now have been rough for Mavericks fans.
The gravity of Charania’s post was paramount, and he knew it, too. In a conversation on The Young Man and The Three podcast (formerly The Old Man and The Three with now-Lakers coach JJ Reddick), Charania gave a behind-the-scenes account of what it was like for him to break arguably the most monumental trade in NBA history.
“My hands were shaking,” Charania said.
Charania told Kenny Beecham and Cam Johnson that he was tipped off at approximately 11:05 p.m. that “something was going on with the Lakers and Mavericks.” Charania said he started digging with his sources and pieces of the three-team trade began to take shape.
“By person, two-three, I’m hearing [Jalen] Hood-Schifino is going to Utah — it’s a three-team trade. Markieff Morris is going to the Lakers, too, and Maxi Kleber. And I’m picking all of these pieces apart and I’m like ‘what’s the trade?’,” Charania said.
Charania said by the fourth or fifth person, he’d gotten all the details of the trade, but he needed to make one more phone call.
“Is this f——- real,” Charania asked. “And the person was like ‘yeah, it’s real.’ And obviously — my hands were shaking. You had to make sure like every detail was right. You had to make sure there was no typo. And I just remember my hands were trembling. I didn’t have a graphic to go with it because it was so sudden.”
After seven minutes, Charania sent the post on X at 11:12 p.m.
You can watch the full conversation here:
Charania said that in the aftermath of the news “my phone was a mess.”
“I had up to 300 text messages,” Charania said.
Everyone had the same message: Did you get hacked? Are you OK? Did someone take your phone?
Charania said he only responded to about five people via phone calls. He specifically named two on the podcast: a SportsCenter producer trying to get in contact with him to go on air and Pat McAfee, whose show he regularly appears on to talk NBA storylines.