Dwight Howard’s resurgence has been one of the early surprises this NBA season. He opted to sign with his hometown Atlanta Hawks after three tumultuous seasons in Houston, and so far, it’s worked out for the 7-2 Hawks.

But before he signed his three-year, $70.5 million deal with Atlanta, he played a trick on his mom. It sort of backfired, too.

Howard called his mom to tell her that he signed a deal with the Utah Jazz, which made his mom cry. Howard talked about the prank on Tuesday to CBS’ Doug Gottlieb.

“I played a prank on my mom. I wanted to see her reaction, so I told her, I said, ‘Mom, I just got this big contract, $150 million.’ And she was like, ‘Oh my God, from who?’ I said, ‘Utah Jazz,’ and she started crying. And I said, ‘Mom, sorry, I was just joking, I’m coming home to Atlanta.’ And then she was super happy and my family was super excited.”

While there’s nothing against Utah, it’s not cool to make your mom cry. Good thing he didn’t wait long to fess up about the prank.

You can listen to the full interview here.