Shams Charania reveals his shocked initial feeling about Anthony Davis and Luka Doncic trade: "I’d been duped"

Earlier this season, the news of a Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade stunned the NBA community. At the time, many fans questioned whether ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania's account on X, formerly known as Twitter, was hacked.

There were calls for Charania to post a video of himself corroborating the story, while others called the longtime insider to go live to discuss the situation.

In an exclusive interview with Front Office Sports on Friday, Shams Charania stated that he would have thought he was being duped if he had not heard talk about a potential trade building up throughout the week.

As he explained, he initially heard that LA and Dallas were working to finalize a trade to send a Mavericks player who wasn't involved in the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade to Dallas.

Although his sources initially denied the news, the NBA insider heard more rumblings of a Dallas-LA trade several days later. From there, he started to hear more and more talk about other teams, like the Utah Jazz, getting involved.

Had it not been for the metaphorical slow boil, Charania says that he would've felt like the reports of a Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade were some prank:

"If I got one call or text that Luka Dončić was traded for Anthony Davis, I’d probably feel right there in that moment that I’d been duped. ... But it was a build-up to it, and by the time I got all the details—the tweet I put out had everything, there wasn’t anything missing—my hands were definitely shaking."

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"Everyone else was wondering - did I get hacked?" - Shams Charania opens up on calls and texts received after breaking news of Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade

After Shams Charania posted that Luka Doncic had been traded to the LA Lakers for Anthony Davis, fans weren't the only ones wondering whether he had been hacked.

As he explained to Front Office Sports, his phone began to fill with calls and text messages from numerous high-profile figures after he posted the news.

In addition to other ESPN hosts like Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee, Charania revealed that he was also contacted by SportsCenter producer Tom DeCorte, who called him a few times, wondering the same thing as fans online:

"SportsCenter producer Tom DeCorte called me a few times. I had to take his call because he was wondering what everyone else was wondering—did I get hacked?"

As Shams Charania joked, his phone was malfunctioning and overheating because of the stream of texts and calls he received about the news.