Kevin Love And His Miami Heat Teammates Learned About The Jimmy Butler Trade From A Fan In The Stands

Issac Baldizon. Getty Images.

Once we get into this part of the NBA calendar, part of the gig is you willingly accept that you are about to be a slave to your phone until 3pm on Thursday, February 6th. Even though you already have all the notifications on that you'd need, you can't help but continuously refresh your timeline. It's addicting, but also part of the fun. When there's chaos unfolding in the NBA, there's no better place to be than Twitter. For a fan, there's nothing better than this time of year if you love drama, speculation, Shams bombs etc.

For a player? I imagine things are a tad different. It has to be a disaster mentally to try and focus on your craft with so much unknown out there. Once Luka got traded it was as if the entire league was put on edge with the reality that anyone at any time could be next. Shit, sometimes players will even be traded mid game! Shoutout Harrison Barnes

Imagine how stressful it has to be for them once a game starts and they no longer have their phone. Meanwhile, the rest of us are refreshing our timelines every two seconds and the players are on the court oblivious to it all. That has to be a crazy situation to be in, especially if you're a team like the Heat where you know a Jimmy Butler trade update could drop at any moment.

Now imagine being the fan who got to tell the Heat players in real time all about the trade

That had to be the biggest rush of all time. In that moment, you're Shams. For that brief interaction, you have as much power as Shams when it comes to delivering and breaking massive NBA news. That had to feel incredible. Sometimes I think about what a dopamine hit it must be for Shams when he sees his tweets go MEGA viral, and I have to think that dude had a similar feeling. Breaking down the trade in real time to Kevin Love, Tyler Herro, and Jaime Jaquez while they are waiting on your every word just like we all are whenever we read a Shams tweet. That's power. 

The best part may have been Tyler Herro's reaction once he heard that trade return. I have a feeling a lot of Heat fans had a very similar reaction. I'd LOVE to know what he was truly thinking at that moment, although I think we can all get the gist by looking at his face. Do I agree that the Heat robbed GS? Ehhhhhh, I wouldn't go that far, but in the moment when you're drunk off that type of power, I don't fault that fan for maybe going a little overboard.