Q: can bent axle cause spider gear to break?

brought my truck in for a repetitive low clanking noise during deceleration, mechanic said a problem in the rear of the truck, after took off the cover for the rear differential spider gear was broken in several pieces. told he was going to replace the entire rear differential assembly. he said that we needed a shim kit of the rear differential don’t remember why. I picked up the truck and the mechanic told me that there was a slight whining noise and requested that I drive it for a month because he believed that it could be due to the truck sitting for a few days. I brought it back to the shop the next day since the noise was louder than expected and the rear differential was hot to touch. then told me that rear right axle was bent and was actual cause of spider gear breaking.

My car has 126000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.