The Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant trade took much of the NBA world by surprise, players included. That is why one player went straight to the source upon learning the news.
New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum shared a funny story of how he initially reacted to the Suns’ acquisition of Durant on his ESPN podcast, “The CJ McCollum Show”. McCollum saw the trade notification on his phone and did not initially believe it, so he opted to text Durant himself for confirmation.
https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1626719534517198848

“I just happened to check my phone, and it was like nine minutes ago, Kevin Durant was traded,” McCollum said. “I was like, what? This is weird. So then I text K and I said, ‘Is this real?’ He said yeah, it’s real, and I just started laughing.”
Not many people can go directly to the source to get an update on Durant trade rumors. McCollum had to flex his muscle a bit here.
The Durant trade came as a surprise publicly due to how quiet the Brooklyn Nets were able to keep the behind-the-scenes discussions. That is why pretty much everyone who reacted quickly apparently knew somebody, McCollum included.