At just past midnight -- right after the 2025 Royal Rumble wrapped up -- an absolutely wild NBA trade dropped on social media. One so unlikely no one could believe it was real until confirmation followed.

The Dallas Mavericks traded homegrown star player Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. More pieces were involved, along with the Utah Jazz. All in all, the trade looked like this:

Lakers get: Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, Markieff Morris

Mavericks get: Anthony Davis, Max Christie, 2029 Lakers first round draft pick

Jazz get: Jalen Hood-Schifino, 2025 Clippers second round pick, 2025 Mavericks second round pick

That's a huge deal! And it's a very strange one! Dallas was in the NBA Finals last spring with Doncic leading the way. Davis was the key to bringing LeBron James back to the promised land of the O'Brien Trophy. And now they've been swapped for each other, along with various moving parts.

It's a lot to process as Saturday night became Sunday morning on the east coast. As such, everyone assumed the same; that ESPN insider Shams Charania had been hacked.

This wasn't limited to fans. Players and pundits across the sporting world clocked in. A sampling:

Jesse Ducker (@jesseducker.bsky.social)

Craig Aaron (@notaaroncraig.bsky.social)

ripcityballs.bsky.social

Long story short, the timing and scope of the trade was huge enough that no one quite believed it was real. And then ESPN confirmed it. But hey, at least Jey Uso got a few minutes to enjoy his Royal Rumble win before the NBA stole his thunder.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: The Mavericks' Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade was so wild everyone thought Shams got hacked