Top 10 Most Shocking NBA Moments

In today’s social media era, every single whisper and rumor is broadcasted to the world. From the slightest sign of dissatisfaction from a star to a front office losing faith in a core, there is not much that goes on in the NBA that social media does not pick up on.

Or so we thought.

A recent shocking player swap has seized all attention surrounding the NBA and has left fans stunned, stupefied and straight-up dumbfounded.

A trade so unbelievable that when NBA reporter Shams Charania broke the news on X, the general public thought Charania’s account was hacked. The trade occurring in the shadows simply added to the mystique and confusion surrounding the move.

What other moments in NBA history have left the jaws of fans on the floor?

First, some ground rules. The focus is on events that are shocking in relation to basketball, not to a player’s career life. Any death or injury-related events will not be included on this list.

With that disclaimer out of the way, here are the top ten most shocking moments in NBA history, where the recent trade has cracked the list:

10. Vince Carter Dunk of Death

Carter recently had his jersey number retired by both the Nets and the Raptors, commemorating a memorable career that lasted 22 seasons.

Widely recognized as the greatest dunker of all time, Carter had some of the first viral dunks as the internet was beginning to rise.

But the crème de la crème of Carter dunks happened in just his second season while playing in the Summer Olympics for Team USA.

After stealing an outlet pass, Carter leapt over 7-foot-2-inch French center Frederic Weis, fully clearing the giant while dunking the ball.

The dunk made waves around the world, and Carter immediately became a household name. In France, the dunk is referred to as le dunk de la mort, translating to Dunk of Death.

9. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to Clippers

The 2019 free agency period saw numerous star players opt for a change in scenery. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving teamed up in Brooklyn, Kemba Walker left Charlotte for greener pastures in Boston and Jimmy Butler chose to sign with Miami, which surely ended professionally and without drama.

But perhaps the most sought-after player was Kawhi Leonard, who was coming off one of the most incredible playoff runs of all time, winning Finals MVP en route to getting Toronto their first NBA Championship.

It was widely speculated that Leonard would leave for the Lakers or re-sign with the Raptors. Paul George was under contract with Oklahoma City, and coming off his best season where he finished third in MVP voting.

That’s when the Clippers threw in a curveball.

Kawhi wanted a running mate of his choosing wherever he signed. The Lakers, who had just emptied their cupboard for Anthony Davis, could not comply. The Clippers could, and they did.

The Clippers gave up a massive haul for George, losing five first-round picks, two pick swaps, a reliable veteran in Danilo Gallinari and a young player coming off a promising rookie season in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

But landing George also meant landing Leonard, and the Clippers went all-in, making a move that shifted the NBA landscape.

8. COVID and The Bubble

Including the COVID pandemic and what resulted from it is teetering on the line of the ground rules, but this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event looking at it strictly from a basketball perspective.

COVID was just beginning to pop up on people’s radars in late Feb 2020, and the NBA and its players were aware of it.

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was asked a question about the virus in a press conference. As the conference concluded, Gobert made a scene of touching every part of the microphone and table around him in jest, referencing the virus.

A few weeks later, on March 11, the NBA suspended a matchup between the Jazz and the Thunder after Gobert and a few other Jazz players tested positive for COVID pregame. Just a couple hours later, the NBA announced the suspension of the season.

The suddenness of the suspension was shocking, as just a few hours prior, NBA fans were ready to watch that day's slate of games.

Fast forward a few months, and the NBA announced plans to resume the season in a quarantined, isolated Walt Disney World resort.

22 of the 30 NBA teams were invited, and the players could not leave the area until their team was eliminated. Daily COVID testing was administered, and COVID outbreaks still affected teams throughout their playoff runs.

The Los Angeles Lakers emerged as champions in a season that will truly never be replicated.

7. Michael Jordan First Retirement

Michael Jordan was coming off of his third straight championship with the Chicago Bulls, and in the prime of his career. At age 30, he was widely viewed as the best player in the league.

On Oct. 6, 1993, Jordan announced his retirement from the NBA in a press conference, citing a lack of passion and motivation as his reasoning

The announcement shook the NBA world, and became one of the biggest stories in sports history.

Jordan felt unbeatable at the time, coming off three straight championships. He already was one of the faces of the sport itself at just 30 years of age.

In what may have been an even more surprising move, Jordan decided to play professional baseball, signing a contract with the Chicago White Sox.

Two years later, Jordan would announce his return to basketball. The winning never ceased, as Jordan and the Bulls would win the next three championships after his return, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

6. Kevin Durant to Warriors

Durant went into free agency for the first time in 2016 after an illustrious nine-year run with the Thunder.

The 2014 MVP was highly sought after as one of the best players in the league. However, Durant wanted to win, and was unable to do so in the playoffs.

A young core featuring Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden led Oklahoma City to the NBA Finals in 2012, where they fell to the Miami Heat. However, they never were able to make a return, which was a large cause of Durant signing with the Golden State Warriors in free agency.

The Warriors, led by back-to-back reigning MVP Stephen Curry, were coming off a historic 73-9 season. They defeated Durant’s Thunder before infamously blowing a 3-1 lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

The move was heavily scrutinized, as Durant joining the Warriors formed a superteam to beat all superteams. A 73-9 team adding an MVP in his prime was, on paper, the greatest team in NBA history. Many felt Durant was taking the easy way out, and fans of the Thunder felt burned.

Regardless of your opinions on the move, the success surrounding the Durant-era Warriors cannot be denied. Durant would win two rings with Golden State, earning Finals MVP in both of them, before leaving for the Nets.

5. Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant Feud

Shaq was no stranger to shocking the world and resetting the NBA landscape. His departure from the Orlando Magic to the Lakers very well could have made this list.

But his feud with another all-time great in Kobe Bryant and subsequent departure from the Lakers is Shaq’s most shocking moment.

The two players clashed from the start. Shaq had an unserious, marketable personality, while Bryant was famously all-business. Bryant came into the league as a rookie with extreme confidence, which rubbed the established star in Shaq the wrong way.

The duo saw historic success, winning three straight championships from 2000-02. Shaq won Finals MVP on all three occasions, and a regular season MVP in 2000.

Even through the team's success, the two stars still disliked each other. Although there had been no public reports of animosity between the two since Shaq’s MVP season, they still took jabs at each other during press conferences.

It came to a head in the 2004 offseason when they continued to do so despite pleas from their head coach, Phil Jackson, to keep any problems internal.

After the 2004 season, the Lakers announced that Jackson, a favorite of Shaq’s, would not return to coach the Lakers the following season. After the announcement, Shaq demanded a trade, believing the front office was making moves to appease Bryant rather than him.

The Lakers obliged, sending Shaq to the Miami Heat, and ending his successful yet tumultuous run with Kobe Bryant.

4. LeBron James to Miami

The King had the NBA, and the sports world, in the palm of his hand during the 2010 offseason.

LeBron James had faced an unprecedented amount of scrutiny throughout his young career after being “crowned” in high school. Anything short of a Hall of Fame career would have James considered a bust.

His early tenure with the Cavaliers showed why such high expectations were placed on him, winning two MVP awards.

However, despite his success, Cleveland’s front office failed to surround James with the talent necessary to win an NBA championship, and instead asked him to consistently carry an under-talented squad deep into the postseason.

James did what he could, even going to the Finals in 2007, but could never win one for Cleveland, which led to him becoming a free agent.

James’ free agency overshadowed the Lakers-Celtics finals that Summer as the biggest NBA story. It was unprecedented coverage for a free agent decision.

On July 8, on a live television special on ESPN, James infamously stated he would “take his talents to South Beach” and join the Miami Heat.

Cleveland fans felt betrayed by James’s leaving, and he faced heavy criticism from fans and other NBA personnel. Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cavaliers, even published a letter calling James “heartless” and his decision a “cowardly betrayal.”

James would make it up to Cavs fans. After winning two championships, two Finals MVPs and two regular season MVPs with the Heat, James would announce his return to Cleveland during the 2014 free agency period, where he would bring the city of Cleveland their first-ever sports championship in 2016.

3. Luka Doncic to Lakers

The Dallas Mavericks future looked bright.

They were coming off of a Finals appearance the previous season, led by Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic

Doncic, at just 25 years old, has been named First-team All-NBA six consecutive years. He was widely viewed as a top-three player in the world, the face of the Mavericks’ franchise and viewed as one of the most untouchable assets in the NBA.

In a trade so shocking that the general public believed the reporter got hacked, Doncic was shipped to the Lakers on Feb 2, 2025 along with two other veterans in Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris. In return, the Mavs got Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first round pick.

There are a plethora of reasons behind the shock that this trade brought.

It was shocking that Doncic was even in trade discussions at all without having requested one. It was shocking that the Lakers were the only team that had the opportunity to trade Doncic. It was shocking that the Mavericks received so few future assets for a top player in his prime. It was shocking that the centerpiece of the Mavericks’ return was a big man on the wrong side of 30.

But perhaps the most shocking aspect was how behind the scenes it was. Not a whisper, leak or rumor about Doncic being moved was published, an unprecedented event in the social media era.

Depending on how Doncic’s tenure with the Lakers goes, this could rise up even higher on this list.

But the sheer shock value of the trade is enough to land it this high.

2. Magic Johnson Retirement

One of the early revolutionaries of the sport, Earvin “Magic” Johnson changed the idea of what a guard could look like.

Listed at 6 '9, Johnson immediately made a name for himself as the primary facilitator for the famous “Showtime Lakers.” His height allowed him to see the court in ways unavailable to smaller guards, and he earned the nickname ‘Magic’ because of his ability to throw flashy passes.

Along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson led the Lakers to five championships, winning three Finals MVP awards. Johnson also won three regular season MVPs and was on the All-NBA First Team nine straight seasons. He was widely viewed as the greatest point guard of all time.

Johnson accomplished all this by the age of 31, and he and the Lakers were set for even more success.

However, on Nov. 17, 1991, Johnson would shock the world in a press conference. He announced that he was diagnosed with HIV and would be retiring immediately.

The stigma surrounding HIV was vastly different in the 90s than it was today, and research surrounding treatment was in its early stages. An HIV diagnosis in the 90s was essentially viewed as a death sentence, which is what made Johnson’s press conference such a shock.

People were not just devastated that Johnson would not be playing basketball anymore; people were prepared for a face of the sport to die.

Fortunately, Johnson did not let the illness get the better of him, and even returned to the NBA in 1995.

Johnson’s announcement was one of the biggest stories in sports history, and ESPN placed it at seventh in its ranking of the most memorable sports moments of the last quarter-century in 2004.

1. Malice at the Palace

When fans are directly involved in an NBA moment, that moment will likely go down in history.

The Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers were the top dogs of the Eastern Conference, with the Pistons defeating the Pacers in the previous season’s Eastern Conference Finals.

The two teams faced off in a regular season matchup on Nov. 19, 2004. The Pacers had a 15-point lead with just under a minute remaining in the game.

Detroit’s Ben Wallace was hit on the head by the Pacers’ Ron Artest on a layup, drawing a foul. Wallace, not appreciating being hit on the head, responded by getting up and shoving Artest. This caused players from both teams to scrum, attempting to separate the two.

Artest had gone over to the scorers table while the players were in the scrum. While he was there, a fan threw his drink at Artest, hitting him in the chest.

Artest immediately flew into the stands to confront the fan, and chaos ensued.

Multiple players followed Artest into the stands as multiple fights broke out, all while other fans were throwing food and drinks at the Pacers players in the stands. The Pacers commentator was trampled, and suffered multiple broken vertebrae.

In the midst of the chaos, fans spewed onto the court. They continued to antagonize Pacers players, who responded by attacking the fans. The NBA had never seen a fight that involved players entering the stands or hordes of fans streaming the court.

The aftermath was just as messy. Nine players received suspensions from the NBA, four of which were indefinite. Legal consequences were also in play, as four players were put on probation and sentenced to 60 hours of community service.

Artest received the harshest punishment, with his indefinite suspension holding up for the remainder of the season, totaling 86 missed games.

The infamous brawl, which many players and coaches have called the worst fight they have ever seen, is the most unexpected and shocking moment in NBA history.

Alex Perez is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email app5877@psu.edu.