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Shams Charania Reveals How Badly His Phone Blew Up After Reporting Mavs-Lakers Trade

A lot of interested parties reached out immediately.

Kyle Koster

Shams Charania on his busy Saturday night.
Shams Charania on his busy Saturday night. / SportsCenter on YouTube
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Many people's initial reaction to ESPN's Shams Charania reporting late Saturday night that a three-team involving Luka Doncic and LeBron James had been pulled off in ultimate secrecy was to wonder if the NBA insider had been hacked. Or to wonder how this blockbuster news could possibly be true. And those who have access to the reporter's phone number took the opportunity to go directly to the source for followups en masse.

Charania joined SportsCenter on Sunday night to talk about the aftermath of his report.

"My phone, I had about 300 text messages," Charania said. "I think my phone started malfunctioning."

That tracks. A mobile phone already asked to do so much was tasked with handling an obscenely large influx of messages and voicemails. Charania's device must constantly be radiating with heat because it never gets a chance to take a breather.

It's worth wondering how many of the 300 people who reached out honestly thought he could get into all of this right now or if they simply just needed to acknowledge the moment. Something for the phone to think about whenever it gets a much-needed conversation and can just unplug for a little bit. Whenever that may be.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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