Shams Charania has joined ESPN as its new senior NBA insider. Front Office Sports was the first outlet to report the news.
The 30-year-old Charania emerged as the clear favorite to succeed Wojnarowski, who retired from journalism to join his alma mater, St. Bonaventure University, as the GM of its men’s basketball program.
Early on Monday, a source said the Charania-ESPN talks were at the “5-yard line.” Charania’s prospects have been elevated by the ringing endorsement of ESPN star Pat McAfee, said another source.
McAfee has publicly stumped for ESPN to hire his frequent guest star as the natural successor to Wojnarowski. Said McAfee on his show: “Shams Charania’s the answer. I know there’s conversations happening. … But if you take our bias out of this conversation, there’s only one answer. It’s Shams Charania.”
Charania has appeared on McAfee’s show for years, even at the risk of offending Wojnarowski when he was still with ESPN. The outspoken McAfee is close with ESPN leaders Jimmy Pitaro and Burke Magnus. One source says McAfee’s ringing endorsement of Charania’s bona fides—on ESPN’s airwaves, no less—helped his friend land the job. “Expect Shams to break most of his news on [The Pat McAfee Show] and not on traditional ESPN NBA shows,” the source predicted.
NBC Sports and Amazon Prime Video were also interested in the telegenic hoops insider, whose deals with The Athletic and FanDuel TV are about to expire. Charania boasts 2.4 million followers on X/Twitter; Wojnarowski has 6.5 million.
ESPN also weighed whether to ask senior NFL insider Adam Schefter to cover both the NFL and NBA as the “Ultimate Insider,” say sources. The network also considered moving MLB insider Jeff Passan to the NBA beat.
ESPN declined to comment.
