It was shortly after 11 p.m. on that infamous Saturday night when, literally as my wife and I returned home from a Richardson Symphony performance, the text came.
“Hate to do this on a Sat. night — but are you available shortly?”
In three-plus decades of sportswriting I’ve had many sources reach out with all manner of news, but I could not have fathomed the size and devastation of this incoming bombshell.
Moments after replying to the source that, sure, I’m available, ESPN’s Shams Charania sent the tweet that rocked the sports world, especially in Dallas.
Mavericks
Unbelievably, Luka Doncic was being traded.
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“I’m assuming it’s the news that ESPN just tweeted?” I texted back to the source.
“Yup,” came the reply.
Had I not been in the middle of texting this particular source, I, like much of the rest of the world, would have assumed Charania’s X account was hacked.
Personally, the loom of Sunday’s one-year anniversary has induced flashbacks and sporadic PTSD.
Not because I missed breaking news of the most controversial trade in NBA history by minutes, if not seconds. Or because Charania’s 11:12 p.m. tweet has 113.2M views compared to the 2.6M of my 11:14 p.m. tweet that was updated at 11:19.
Charania has said his hands trembled that night. My recollection is that my mind ping-ponged between racing to get the story online and attempting to analyze the deal.
Was I missing something? Granted, Doncic was not without flaws, but he already was one of the most gifted offensive players in NBA history and still a month shy of turning 26.
Mavericks management’s reasoning became clear just after midnight, starting at 12:10 a.m. to be precise, when GM Nico Harrison got on a call with colleague Mike Curtis and I and patiently answered all of our questions.
But my phone had been blowing up for the better part of an hour. Fans were apoplectic, their initial shock quickly boiling to anger. My first question to Harrison was about the fans and what he would say to them.
“First of all, I understand why they would be shocked initially. But I do believe that we positioned ourselves to win now and also win in the future.
“And that’s ultimately the goal and why we’re here. I think it’s one of those things where it’s my job to make the tough decisions that put our goals first and foremost.”
Listening to Harrison that night, it didn’t seem that he grasped the full gravity of the trade, or the intensity of fans’ feelings about Doncic. Harrison for the next few weeks said he understood the extent of fan disappointment, but at season’s end he admitted he didn’t.
A year later, the fact Anthony Davis has only played 29 games as a Maverick certainly has erased any notion of merit on Dallas’ side of the trade — especially as Doncic in the same span has played 66 games as a Laker and averaged an NBA-best 31.3 points.
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A year later, what most resonates about the trade is its senselessness. That late-night Feb. 1, 2025, bombshell is the highly risky, irrational oops that never can be undone.
If we didn’t know better, we’d wonder if the NBA mocked the Mavericks by sending Doncic and the Lakers to American Airlines Center eight days ago, tormenting Dallas fans one time before the anniversary.
Can’t speak for anyone else, but I probably won’t be going to any symphony on Sunday night. If I do go out, I’ll probably have my phone silenced by 11:12 p.m. and if I can at all help it, I won’t be on Twitter.
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