Every NBA fan knows where they were when the Luka Doncic trade went down.
Even though the trade leaked in the early morning hours that February Saturday, its reverberations were like an earthquake, sending aftershocks throughout the sports world. It even passed "The Mom Test" -- you know, when your otherwise sports-agnostic mother asks you what is going on with this.
It hit a cultural point that few transactions do.
The reverberations are still being felt as the Los Angeles Lakers secured their next generational star and the Dallas Mavericks try to explain to their fan base why they made the move they made. Getting Cooper Flagg with the top pick certainly helped ease the blow.
Still, the way the Mavericks so abruptly moved one of the best players in the league left a lot of people shaken.
Mavericks assistant coach God Shammgod was one of them.
The longtime assistant with the Mavericks left Dallas for Orlando this offseason, rejoining Jamahl Mosley, who was on the staff with Shammgod for two seasons. Shammgod's role will be the same as it was in Dallas -- he will work with guards on their ball-handling and point guard skills in a back-of-bench role.
But the reason for his leaving very much was because of how things went down with Doncic.
"The way you handle it going out means something to me," Shammgod said on the Come and Talk 2 Me podcast with rappers Cam'Ron and Mase (NSFW). "Where we come from [eds. note: They are all from New York], you handle things the wrong way on the way out, things could get ugly, and things could get dark. The people that survive are the people who handle it accordingly. We might not agree, but if you handle it accordingly, we can always come back and we can always be friends and always kick it. The thing about Dallas was it was getting spooky times."
There is a lot to unpack there.
But the Doncic trade was a clear impetus for Shammgod to leave Dallas. He did not seem particularly happy with how the franchise denigrated Doncic on the way out of the door or treated him in the leadup and aftermath of the trade.
Shammgod worked very closely with Doncic. He said in terms of it factor, he traield only Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in his mind.
The Doncic trade was shocking because of how out of left field it was. Doncic was one of the few untradeable players in the league -- even with Dallas shuffling its feet on giving him a contract extension (he signed a three-year, $160.8 million deal with the Lakers this summer).
Relationships and how teams treat players reverberates throughout the league.
The Magic treasure these relationships
It is something president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman and coach Jamahl Mosley pride themselves on how they relate to and take care of the players on teh roster.
Mosley is known as a player's coach, constantly in his players' corners and pushing them to improve and get better. He gets on the floor with his players, something a lot of head coaches do not do.
That is still the kind of program the Orlando Magic want to build -- just look at how Franz Wagner and Tristan da Silva celebrated with Magic and German assistant coach Randy Gregory after winning EuroBasket.
Weltman typically makes it a point to welcome family when draft picks come for their introductory press conference. Players speak highly of the family atmosphere and resources available to the people in their orbit. The Magic family is a part of the culture that the team has tried to cultivate.
It goes with being up front with players about where they stand too. Nikola Vucevic credited the Magic for being up front with their negotiations when they eventually traded him to the Chicago Bulls.
The Desmond Bane trade caught everyone by surprise as the Magic operated with their usual stealth to get it done. But nobody criticized the Magic for the way they do business.
That seems to be a selling point for Shammgod joining the team and rejoining Mosley.
"For me, Orlando is an amazing spot," Shammgod added on the podcast. "Coach Mosley, we coached together in Dallas. That's one of my closest friends, too. You know those people you feel you can trust your career with. Even if y'all don't agree, I know this person has my best interest. When you don't have that and don't feel that, it's hard because you have to work every day."
Shammgod will have a big role to play as this young team continues to improve. Especially considering the team does not have a natural point guard. Everyone will be relied on for playmaking. There is a lot to teach.
The reverberations from Doncic
It still feels like the entire league is still reverberating from the shock of the Luka Doncic trade seven months ago. Things still have not quite settled down as the idea of LeBron james and Luka Doncic playing together for a full season begins to set in.
Clearly there were a lot of dominos that were going to fall because of the trade. There is always an aftershock to such a seismic trade.
The Mavericks likely stopped the worst of the damage after winning the Lottery and getting another potential star in top overall pick, Cooper Flagg. But the reverberations were still felt.
Clearly, Shammgod felt like the Mavs were no longer an organization he could trust and felt like he needed to get to a new situation. He found that with the Orlando Magic.