Royce O’Neale told about his trade from Nets to Suns during Call of Duty

Royce O’Neale said that he found out about his trade from the Brooklyn Nets to the Phoenix Suns while playing Call of Duty with his friends.

The Brooklyn Nets were expected to be one of the more active teams in the NBA during the trade deadline in February. While Brooklyn did not make the kind of moves that significantly changed the complexion of the roster, there was one move they made that surprised one of their veterans.

At the deadline, one of the moves that the Nets made was trading forward Royce O’Neale to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for three future second-round picks, guard Jordan Goodwin (who was later waived), and forward Keita Bates-Diop. However, O’Neale found out that he was traded while he was playing Call of Duty with his friends.

O’Neale was one of the players that Brooklyn brought in to support Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the team’s quest for a championship during the window of the superstar era. Heading into the 2022-23 season, the Nets traded their 2023 first-round pick (later became Brice Sensabaugh with the 28th overall pick) to the Utah Jazz for O’Neale.

O’Neale was a productive play during his time in Brooklyn as he averaged 8.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 38.7% from the field and 38.0% from three-point land. However, following how the Nets underperformed this season after a 13-10 start, O’Neale became one of the players that was traded at the deadline for an opportunity with a contender.

Here’s how O’Neale broke down his finding out about the trade while speaking to Michelle Beadle on FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back” show:

“I was actually playing Call of Duty. I wasn’t trying to keep up with all the rumors and stuff that was going around. My friends kept calling me and my agent called me right as it happened. I’m in the middle of the game and I just like, kind of like threw the controller down and told my friends I gotta go. So, it happened real fast. I was excited just for another opportunity to keep playing.”

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