Everyone remembers where they were on the night the Mavericks traded their franchise superstar, Luka Doncic. As the man who broke the trade, Shams Charania had no idea what he was in for that night but it was a time he will never forget.
“I was just preparing for my flight to Bristol the next morning because it was a big trade deadline week,” said Shams. “It was about 11:05 when I got a tip that there was something going on between the Lakers and Mavericks. What’s funny is that a few days prior, Wednesday, I heard that the Lakers and Mavs were talking about a trade, about a specific player, but that player was not involved in the ultimate deal. It was clearly a great smokescreen.”
It wasn’t until late on Saturday night that Shams first got tipped off about the trade, but he wasn’t sure that it was legitimate right away. The Lakers had been trying to create a smokescreen of rumors, but Shams was able to confirm the details after some extensive digging.
“I’m digging more and more. By person two or three, I hear 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 these pieces apart and I’m like ‘what’s the trade?’ By the time I got to the fourth or fifth person, I got all the details of the trade and made one more call. I didn’t even say anything on that call, I just said ‘Is this real?’ and the person’s like ‘Yeah it’s real.’ My hands were shaking, you had to make sure every detail was right, you had to make sure there was no typo. I just remember my hands were trembling.”
It was early on Sunday morning when Charania broke the news of the trade, which sent Luka Doncic and Maxi Kleber to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a future first-round pick. The deal was so unbelievable at the time that everyone thought Shams was hacked.
“From the time I heard about it to the time I put it out, probably about 5-7 minutes went by. Five confirmed sources on it, and then after that my phone was a mess. I had up to like 300 text messages. I answered five people’s phone calls, but texts I couldn’t,” said Shams. “Literally up to 300 messages and everyone with the same messages, ‘Did you get hacked,’ ‘Check your phone,’ People were like ‘Are you okay?’ I got so many crazy text messages and I responded to like five people on calls. One was a Sports Center late night producer, Tom Decorte, because he called me like three times and I saw the third one. Pat MacAfee is another guy, he called me a couple of times and I had to respond on my Mac because my phone was literally hot.”
It’s been weeks since the blockbuster trade, but the Mavericks are still feeling the effects of the trade. With their team decimated by injuries, the Mavericks are down to 10th in the West (33-34) and quickly losing hope of making a run this season. Fans are livid and actively rebelling against the organization.
Meanwhile, Luka Doncic is dominating on the Lakers with averages of 24.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 8.0 assists per game on 39.9% shooting. To this day, the Mavericks are catching heat for giving away their franchise player and many fans believe it will take them decades to recover.
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