The NBA world was left in shock when ESPN’s Shams Charania broke the news late Saturday night that the Los Angeles Lakers were sending Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks for Luka Doncic.
Given the magnitude of the trade, which involves a 10-time and five-time All-Star in Davis and Doncic respectively, there were plenty of fans, analysts and players alike wondering if Shams’ account was actually hacked?
In fact, ESPN’s Phil Murphy even brought up that suggestion while talking about the breaking news during Saturday night’s SportsCenter.
“We’re gonna try and dial up Shams to make sure he didn’t get hacked,” Murphy said. “This has been confirmed, though.”
Shock around the league
Murphy wasn’t the only NBA personality in shock, as plenty of names took to social media to question whether what they were reading was actually real.
“I am 99.99% still convinced that this still isn’t real… Shams has to be hacked, right?,” said podcaster Josh Reynolds.
“If, for some chance it is real, this is hands down the most confusing, insane, blockbuster trade in NBA history.”
Another NBA reporter, Eric Smith, wrote: “Shams wasn’t hacked!? This is real!? What the &$#$@*.
Joseph Casciaro added: “I genuinely believed Shams was hacked. A trade of unfathomable proportions. One of the biggest in sports history. Literally unbelievable.”
However the initial shock soon wore off as the reality of the situation set in, with another ESPN personality, Bobby Marks, writing: “Shams has not been hacked. This is real.”
Then, to top it off, Shams himself put any notion of a hack to rest when he dropped the full details of the trade, but not before opening with: “Yes, this is real.”
Now with the initial shock slowly dissipating, all eyes will be on the Mavericks and the Lakers and how their new star names settle in to their new surroundings.
Read the full article here
