NBA insider mistakenly breaks Raptors trade for Damian Lillard
Toronto Raptors fans aren’t exactly going to be forgiving The Athletic’s Shams Charania anytime soon for a recent mishap of his.
At 2:16 pm ET, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news of the blockbuster Damian Lillard trade from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Milwaukee Bucks.
BREAKING: The Portland Trail Blazers are trading guard Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/FRgQyDVjQG
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 27, 2023
Toronto had been rumoured as one of the frontrunners in a possible Lillard deal, according to multiple reports, and Wojnarowski’s post seemed to put an end to any idea that the seven-time NBA All-Star would end up in Toronto.
At 2:17 pm, however, Wojnarowski’s top competitor in the field — his former Yahoo! Sports colleague Charania — published a tweet saying that Portland, Phoenix and Toronto would be taking part in a four-team trade, with the Raptors getting Lillard and no mention of the Bucks. Of course, that’s only three teams, but Charania also made the worse mistake of including Toronto as the final destination for Lillard when he was actually heading to Milwaukee.
Though the post was quickly deleted by Charania before he reposted it by replacing the Bucks’ name with Toronto, the original was widely screenshotted and spread across social media by fans confused by the conflicting reports.
it will live forever pic.twitter.com/EmxTXWjwBB
— John Chick (@roofthatpeach) September 27, 2023
The full trade ultimately saw Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, a 2029 unprotected Milwaukee first-round pick, and unprotected Milwaukee swap rights in 2028 and 2030 to head to Portland, while the Suns got Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson.
Fans and media alike had plenty of reaction to the mishap from Charania, including those wondering if it meant the Raptors were going right down to the wire with the trade before the Bucks ended up winning the sweepstakes.
Literally SHOOK me pic.twitter.com/8HSii8RWxQ
— BetMGM Canada (@BetMGMCanada) September 27, 2023
Shams initially had the Raptors getting Damian Lillard in his first tweet and I have still not recovered.
— LC (@LucasCasaletto) September 27, 2023
Shams is washed for that Raptors tweet.
— denzel 🦧 (@denzel_470) September 27, 2023
WHY DID SHAMS TWEET RAPTORS WHY DID HE HAVE TO DO THAT TO ME I AM IN SHAMBLES I CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE JUST GIVE ME A REASON TO FEEL HAPPIMESSSS
— Comp (2-1) (@CompMVP) September 27, 2023
Shams after accidentally including the Raptors in that tweet pic.twitter.com/0sr9KE4xV0
— The GIST Canada (@thegistca) September 27, 2023
Shams had me thinking Lillard was a Raptor for like 2 seconds
— Jamest (@Jay_CSMFL) September 27, 2023
So if this is the tweet Shams had ready to go I need to know how close the Raptors were to getting this done before the Bucks swooped in. pic.twitter.com/UkcPeKBdG1
— ً (@RaptorsTalk19) September 27, 2023
In any case, with the chance of getting Lillard now in the rearview mirror for Toronto despite the brief moment of shock from Charania, the focus now shifts to seeing if the team’s front office has anything else up their sleeves.
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