Adrian Wojnarowski’s decision to retire Wednesday shocked the sports world—including his employers at ESPN, who pay him an estimated $7 million a year.
There was no heads-up from ESPN’s senior NBA insider before he informed the network Wednesday morning he was leaving to become GM for the men’s basketball program at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure, sources tell Front Office Sports.
Instead, in classic “Woj bomb” fashion, he explained his reasoning himself in a tweet to his 6.5 million followers, leaving ESPN PR to play catchup.
Stephen A. Smith, the face and voice of ESPN, indicated on First Take the company was shocked by the sudden news. Smith called Wojnarowski’s departure a “devastating loss” for the network.
“He has my profound respect. I just hope this is a very, very happy move. I anticipate that it is. Because we certainly didn’t ask him to leave, I can assure you of that. This is something he’s doing of his own volition,” said Smith.
ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro has a long relationship with Wojnarowski, dating back to the columnist’s days as ESPN’s bête noire at Yahoo Sports. But we can confirm The Athletic reported that even Pitaro and president of content Burke Magnus were “surprised” when Wojnarowski broke the news to them. With two to three years remaining on his ESPN deal, the former newspaperman leaves an estimated $15 million to $20 million on the table.
“Wojnarowski conveyed to his ESPN bosses that he was completely burned out from the incessant news breaking that required him to be on his phone nearly 24/7,” reported The Athletic. “Wojnarowski told his bosses that with the NBA season around the corner, the thought of only having three hours of sleep per night to keep up with the latest transactions and information was unappealing. He thought he could have gone on for one more season, but the St. Bonaventure job excited him in a way that news breaking no longer did.”
As his competition with former protégé Shams Charania ramped up, a guarded Wojnarowski increasingly played his cards close to the vest, say sources. So it didn’t come as a surprise to Woj-watchers he chose to detonate the last “Woj bomb” himself.
As one source told me: “Woj’s worst nightmare would have been Shams breaking the news of his retirement.”
ESPN declined to comment on details of Woj’s retirement announcement.
