PHILADELPHIA — Jaylen Brown and Al Horford have been each napping when information of the NBA’s earth-shattering commerce — which swapped superstars Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis — first unfolded late Saturday evening.
However, Kristaps Porzingis, was awake and informed reporters that he first realized about ESPN’s Shams Charania’s Tweet from somebody on the Philadelphia road.
“He was like, ‘You heard concerning the commerce?’” Porzingis mentioned, then added that for a second he thought the transaction concerned him.
“What occurred? Did I get traded?”
When Porzingis lastly bought the total scoop that two of the sport’s prime stars had been traded for each other, he was in full shock, emphasizing to reporters that Doncic — his former teammate of three seasons in Dallas — was solely 25 years outdated.
“Similar to everyone else, I didn’t imagine it,” Porzingis mentioned.
Al Horford equally mentioned he was surprised when his younger brother shared the information this morning.
“One of many greatest strikes in NBA historical past,” Horford, who has spent 17 seasons within the NBA, resoundingly acknowledged.
Celtics two-way participant Drew Peterson shared that his good friend instantly despatched him the information: Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris have been shipped to Los Angeles in change for Davis, Max Christie, and a Lakers 2029 first-round draft choose.
Like most individuals on-line, the 25-year-old instantly assumed it was pretend.
“I assumed for certain ‘this account have to be hacked, or one thing’,” Peterson informed CelticsBlog earlier than the Celtics’ Sunday night recreation towards the 76ers.
And, after the mud had settled, Porzingis’s sentiments mirrored that of many of the inhabitants.
“I feel that is the craziest commerce in historical past,” Porzingis mentioned.
However, Jaylen Brown wasn’t fairly as shocked as the remainder of us
Jaylen Brown, who has dealt along with his justifiable share of commerce rumors throughout his 8-year NBA tenure, was one of many veteran Celtics gamers who have been asleep on the time of the information breaking.
“I wakened and noticed the information, and I used to be like, ‘wow’ for certain,” Brown informed CelticsBlog earlier than Sunday’s match-up with the 76ers. “However then when you consider it — it form of made considerably sense, to a point — a number of the experiences and a number of the stuff that individuals have already mentioned.”
Brown and the Celtics confronted the Mavericks through the NBA Finals in June — a collection that served as the height of his skilled profession up to now. Only a summer season faraway from signing a supermax contract, Brown averaged 22.3 factors, 6.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists within the Finals, serving as Doncic’s main defender en path to a Finals MVP award.
Few may have predicted that the next season, Doncic can be dealt.
Nonetheless, Brown wasn’t surprised.
“Something can occur,” Brown mentioned. “Individuals fall out. Organizations lose belief. Enterprise occurs — it occurs each day. Not too shocked, to be sincere.”
For Brown, the fascinating a part of the transaction was much less about what’s already transpired — and extra about what implications it’ll have league-wide, whether or not that be NBA groups making trades to higher match up with the new-look Mavericks and Lakers — or groups merely being extra keen to half with their star gamers.
“I really feel like a commerce of that magnitude has a trickle-down impact — different selections are made based mostly off of this one choice,” Brown mentioned. “So I’m curious to see how the remainder of subsequent yr and this offseason goes to go.”
On late Saturday, the panorama quickly modified. Brown thinks it could possibly be only the start.
“What comes subsequent?”
