Shams Charania is no stranger to chaos, but even he wasn’t prepared for the storm that surrounded Luka Doncic’s blockbuster trade to the Lakers. In a recent appearance on the ‘Sports Reporters’ podcast, the NBA insider gave fans a rare behind-the-scenes look at how the story broke, and just how close he was to missing it entirely.
“I slept for like 30 minutes that night,” said Shams. “That deal happened on a Saturday night. On Wednesday, there was a tip… that the Mavs and Lakers were talking about a deal. There was a player they were discussing, but that player was nowhere to be found in the actual deal.”
Despite buzz from league executives and coaching contacts in both Dallas and Los Angeles, Shams initially received denials from trusted sources. By the time he got the green light, the clock was ticking. He described a mad scramble to confirm the details, write the tweet, and hit send, all in under seven minutes.
“People are both teams were like, ‘Hey, we have something going on around this player. And then you check with the people that you trust, and they’re like, ‘No, there’s nothing there.’ Everyone buried the lead,” Shams added. “The one thing that eats at me is having a typo in a tweet. I hate editing tweets.”
The Luka Doncic trade shocked the entire basketball world, and part of the reason why is that the deal was kept under wraps. Unlike most trades, the Lakers and Mavericks managed to hide the details of their negotiations from everyone until the news finally broke.
Shams was at the frontlines at the time, and not even he knew what was happening until the very last minute. What he thought might have been a salary dump move was actually one of the biggest trades in NBA history, and nobody saw it coming.
Shams Gets Real On His Job As NBA Insider
As one of the top NBA insiders in the business, Shams has an unparalleled dedication to the job. He’s spoken before about his long work hours and how he can be on his phone between 17-18 hours per day. Apparently, his role also comes with the cost of impeding his personal relationships.
“I’ve had to walk out on dates, I’ve had to walk out on social events. My friends don’t really like me,” said Shams. “That’s why it’s very hard to have a consistent relationship because it’s just like you know the time that it requires and you know the time they deserve, rightfully, and there are just moments where I’m just always gonna choose this.”
In an NBA where breaking stories can happen at any time, at any point in the season, Shams knows that every minute he’s not plugged is a chance that he’ll miss the next scoop. For Charania, everything else in his life gets put aside to cover the game, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
It’s a major sacrifice that not everybody would be willing to make, but there’s a reason why Shams is so good at what he does. His commitment, dedication, and passion for the job are unmatched, and it’s only a matter of time before he discovers his next big story.
