It’s been 10 months since Dallas has been trying to cope with the loss of Luka Doncic in return for Anthony Davis. Back then, ESPN’s Shams Charania dropped the bombshell. However, it still keeps making headlines every other day. Most recently, the earth-shattering trade made the news after rumors emerged of ESPN’s Shams Charania texting LeBron James’ eldest son and Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James the details of the trade before they went public. So, is this rumor true?

Many believed the rumor until today, when ESPN insider Shams Charania addressed it himself. Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, Charania was asked by McAfee and co-host Darius Butler if there was any truth to the story. In response, he pointed to the tweet that sparked the whole thing. The post, from a hoops page called Legion Hoops, claimed that it was Bronny James who had shared Shams’ original tweet in the team’s group chat, setting off the speculation.

“Bronny James Jr. was reportedly the one who sent Shams’ Luka-AD trade tweet in the Lakers team group chat.” The post stated. While this indicated that it was the young guard who informed his teammate about the trade, it was misinterpreted by a few. Several people believed that it was Charania who personally texted James Jr. However, that wasn’t the case; the ESPN analyst himself put an end to all these rumors. “I don’t think I had time to text anyone,” he told Pat McAfee.

“I had time to, like, pick up five phone calls that night, you being one of them, Pat. My hands were shaking, I was sweating bullets, I was like I don’t want a typo.” He further explained. Charania cleared the air around the speculation of him texting players before a move got official or was made public. Nonetheless, while Shams Charania did not privately text Bronny James, his tweet ( which gained 110 million views):

Shams Charania’s now-infamous tweet garnered different reactions from Lakers’ stars

According to a newly released book from sportswriter Yaron Weitzman, it was the young guard who shared the now-infamous tweet by the ESPN Insider on the team’s group chat in February. As expected, the message sent by Bronny garnered all sorts of reactions from the entire Purple & Gold roster. Among them, of course, the most notable one was seemingly from the man who got traded, Anthony Davis.

“Did these n—– just trade me?” Davis wrote as per Weitzman. He then apparently wished his teammates luck and left the group chat. However, this wasn’t all. Soon, other players gave their initial thoughts on the trade. While AD seemed furious about the move, as we probably should have been, LeBron James reacted in a way most of us did after seeing the tweet. “WTF,” he wrote. (While many claim LeBron was kept in the loop, the 40-year-old star has denied those claims time and again)

Three letters were all it took for the Akron Hammer to express his feelings about his close friend being traded out of the blue. It’s safe to say that Yaron Weitzman’s account is somewhat similar to what Lakers shooting guard Austin Reaves revealed earlier. The star previously stated that he thought AD was pranking the team with the news. Now, we cannot say with certainty that it was the forward who was the first to text in the group.

Who initiated the trade, who all were involved, is now a thing of the past as all the players seem settled in their respective homes. Luka Doncic’s arrival did give a huge boost to the Los Angeles Lakers, whereas Davis is trying to find his way out with Cooper Flagg and Co. to keep the Mavs base happy!