How cool would it be to bump into a professional NBA player in public, and possibly witness him receive the news that he had been traded?  Well, one lucky customer at a Dallas area restaurant believes that he got to see it happen right before his eyes.

Last week, Dallas Mavericks power forward Kirstaps Porzingis was traded to the Washington Wizards, along with a second-round draft pick in exchange for Wizard’s guard Spencer Dinwiddie, and forward Davis Bertans.  However, he didn’t even know that he had been traded until right before the NBA’s trade deadline.

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On Thursday, February 10th, right before the NBA trade deadline, Porzingis decided to grab a bite to eat at the East Hampton Sandwich Company, which is a local cafe in the Dallas area.  One of the restaurant’s customers, Jake Derichsweiller was standing in line right behind Porzingis at the time, and tweeted what he saw.  Apparently once Porzingis’ phone rang, he got out of line, and went back into his car to take the call.  After talking on the phone for a bit, he then came back into the restaurant to order his lunch.


 

Derichsweiller, who is also an avid basketball fan, had been following the NBA trade deadline all day long.  He recognized the Mavs player who was in front of him in ling.  Although, with a height of seven foot three, Porzingis is hard to miss.

Once his phone rang, Derichsweiller suspected that the Mavs player had been traded.  His suspicions were correct, and as soon as he sat down to eat his sandwich, he saw the news on Twitter, that Porzingis had been traded.  A few hours later, Porzingis announced on social media that he had been traded to the Washington Wizards, and wished his fans well.

While Porzingis is a talented player, fans shouldn’t be surprised that he was traded.  Porzingis joined the Dallas Mavericks in January of 2019, as a result of a trade from the New York Nicks.  In July of that same year, he signed a lucrative $158 million contract.  Unfortunately, Porzingis did not work out for the team.  After joining the Mavs, he missed several games due to chronic knee problems.  In fact, he missed 21 games in the 2021-2022 season alone!

It's disappointing that Porzingis didn’t work out for the Mavericks.  Hopefully this trade pays off and the Mavericks at least win a playoff series this year.

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