Shams Charania is leaving the Athletic to join ESPN as its top NBA insider. Charania announced the news Monday on X to his more than 2.4 million followers, writing: “I am honored to join ESPN as the company’s Senior NBA Insider. I can’t wait to be part of an incredible group of colleagues at ESPN and serve the sports audience worldwide.”
By Ben Strauss
Charania, better known by just his first name in NBA circles and on social media, replaces his former mentor, Adrian Wojnarowski, who retired from the media business in September after a long stint as ESPN’s top NBA newsbreaker.
There was plenty of speculation in NBA and media circles about how ESPN might (or might not) replace Wojnarowski and whether the company needed such a newsbreaker in an era when X has lost some influence. But in hiring Charania, the company will continue to center its coverage of the league around its star newsbreaker. (ESPN also cut ties with popular analyst Zach Lowe last month.)
ESPN reached a new broadcast rights deal with the NBA this summer; parent company Disney will pay the league $2.6 billion per season starting in 2025-26.
Within a few days of Wojnarowski’s retirement, Charania, whose contract with the Athletic was expiring, visited ESPN’s campus in Bristol, Conn., to meet with executives, according to multiple people who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
While ESPN will maintain its approach to NBA coverage, there will be at least a slight adjustment for the network. Charania and Wojnarowski were bitter rivals in the newsbreaking game. NBA reporters at ESPN were discouraged from sharing Charania’s work when he was with the Athletic, though he has been a regular guest on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Charania also has co-hosted an NBA show on FanDuel, which drew the ire of some New York Times colleagues. (The Athletic is owned by the Times.) An ESPN spokesman said Charania will not continue as a contributor to the gambling company.
In landing at ESPN, Charania, 30, continues his ascent through the media business. He began his career covering the NBA as a high school student in the Chicago suburbs. He wrote for several websites and drove to NBA games in Milwaukee and Indianapolis when he was denied credentials for Bulls games. Wojnarowski hired him at Yahoo when Charania was still in college; he moved to the Athletic in 2018.
