The news has been broken, by no less than Shams Charania himself. Previously the top NBA insider remaining on the market, Charania announced that he's left The Athletic for ESPN.
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In the process, he will replace former mentor Adrian Wojnarowski, who retired from the industry to become the GM of the St. Bonaventure men's basketball program.
And for some at ESPN, Charania's arrival as the main NBA man may be a breath of fresh air. He has a reputation of being, well, a better teammate than the hard-driving Woj, per Ethan Strauss of Substack. Strauss is a former ESPN employee and was fired shortly after Wojnarowski arrived back in 2017.
Straus admitted that he was rumored to have been let go because Wojnarowski either didn't like him or his work (or both). With Charania, however, there isn't expected to be any of that friction with others on the staff — real, imagined, or otherwise.
"Under Adrian, ESPN NBA's information game revolved around his insatiable need to support sources and control coverage via their wishes," Strauss wrote. "It made for a tense environment at a time when ESPN was suffering through a range of broader problems. Now, with Woj out, the coverage could make more sense. At the very least, the people involved might be more relaxed."
"... Some of you ask why I'm generally more lenient on Shams than Woj, and it's fair to mention that Charania isn't rumored to have gotten me fired. With that out of the way, I'd say that I focus less on Shams because he focuses less on others. At the Athletic, he was reputed to be a good teammate. At ESPN, he projects to be like NFL news breaker Adam Schefter: An affable workhorse.
"Woj, by contrast, was a volatile boss. I couldn't talk about ESPN's NBA coverage without discussing Wojnarowski because he sought to control all aspects."
Along with ESPN, NBC Sports and Amazon were said to have Charania on the radar. He previously covered the NBA at Yahoo Sports with Wojnarowski, after rising through the ranks at RealGM as a high schooler.
"Even if I have reservations about the news breaking game, I see this substitution as largely good for all parties," Strauss wrote. "The Athletic can focus more on writing and analysis, which is their strength. ESPN can compartmentalize news breaking away from commentary. St. Bonaventure can perhaps improve its basketball team."
(This article originally appeared on Hoops Wire and was syndicated with permission.)
