Woj Departure Fallout Includes Stephen A. Smith Leverage

Now that the Woj bomb to end all Woj bombs has flattened the sports media industry, here are seven things I think about Adrian Wojnarowski’s dramatic retirement from ESPN:

Stephen A. Smith Just Got More Leverage

During last week’s live “Tuned In” sports media summit in New York, I discussed his current contract negotiations with Smith. The lead commentator on powerhouse First Take, who currently makes $12 million a year, wants to become the highest-paid talent at ESPN. That title is currently held by Monday Night Football analyst Troy Aikman ($18 million). Smith said he loves ESPN and Disney. But he’s willing to leave to focus on his owned and operated YouTube show/podcast as well as opportunities in late-night TV, acting, and mainstream news. 

Woj’s departure gives Smith another card to play in his negotiations. Does ESPN want to lose its two most important hoops voices when it’s due to start paying $2.6 billion a year for NBA rights starting with the 2025–2026 season? I don’t think so. This only increases the likelihood, in my book, that Smith gets what he wants and remains with ESPN/Disney.

Shams Charania Is Betting Favorite to Wear Woj’s ESPN Crown

Within hours of the 55-year-old NBA insider announcing he was retiring from journalism to become GM of the men’s basketball program at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure University, ESPN was eyeing fellow insiders Shams Charania and Chris Haynes, sources tell me. 

The timing is perfect: ESPN knows Charania and Haynes are pending free agents. The 30-year-old Charania is Wojnarowski’s former protégé at Yahoo Sports. He’s 25 years younger and boasts 2.3 million X/Twitter followers (albeit 4.2 million fewer than his one-time mentor). Since Wojnarowski jumped to ESPN in 2017, the feud between the former friends/colleagues has become fierce. In fact one problem could be how Charania meshes with an NBA team at ESPN partially built by Wojnarowski. The telegenic young news-breaker makes an estimated $3 million to $4 million a year from his current gigs at The Athletic, Stadium, and FanDuel; Wojnarowski made around $7 million. So ESPN can afford to offer him a big increase in pay. But don’t count out TNT Sports’ Haynes. 

The 42-year-old former ESPNer is better on TV than Wojnarowski and boasts deep relationships with NBA stars like Damian Lillard. In fact, one of the reasons Haynes left ESPN for Yahoo Sports in 2018 is that he wasn’t treated as an equal to Wojnarowski by company executives. Other contenders to spend time in Bristol include former ESPNer Marc Stein (who did recently sign a deal with All-City Network) and rising star Jake Fischer, who tweeted Wednesday he’s leaving Yahoo. Within 24 hours, it’s become a parlor game to guess who will succeed Wojnarowski. Bovada is even offering odds, with Charania installed as the betting favorite.

Don’t Overlook ESPN’s Deep Bench

Charania may want to tread carefully in negotiations, since ESPN has its own deep roster of NBA insiders and analysts. Start with Brian Windhorst. He’s covered LeBron James since high school. “He’s criminally underrated,” said one source. In fact, sources whisper Wojnarowski’s departure could pave the way for Windhorst’s ascension, that the feeling in some circles is he’s been held back by Woj’s outsized presence.

Other talented ESPN hoops scribes include Ramona Shelburne, Marc J. Spears, Tim Bontemps, Zach Lowe, and front office specialist Bobby Marks. So ESPN could take a news-by-committee approach. Did we mention they’re all better on TV than Wojnarowski? “That was his Achilles’ heel,” said another source.

How Long Will Adam Schefter Keep Going?

I know he looks boyish. But ESPN’s 57-year-old NFL insider is actually two years older than Wojnarowski. Schefter’s emotional tribute to Woj on Wednesday made me wonder whether he’s also struggling with burnout issues. Sure, it’s great to be an influential, millionaire reporter, with the ability to move the industry with a single tweet. But the 24/7 job also eats you alive—and robs you of any semblance of a normal family life, noted Schefter.

“We talked about this. Basically, he wanted his life back. He didn’t want to have to work on holidays. He didn’t want to be away from more family gatherings. He didn’t want to have to … take a shower with your phone up against the shower door so you can see a text that’s coming in. Or take your phone with you to the urinal and hold it in one hand while you try to take care of your business in the other. That’s the life that we live,” he told NBA Today host Malika Andrews. “That’s the life he chose not to do any longer. Because it takes over your life. You can’t kind of do the job. You have to live the job. And he was done living the job.” 

If and when Schefter hangs up his phone, my money would be on insiders Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Dan Graziano of ESPN, and ex-ESPNers Josina Anderson and Dianna Russini to pick up his mantle.

Pat McAfee Could Tip the Scales

Within hours of Wojnarowski giving up his crown as scoop king, McAfee took to his eponymous show to lobby for ESPN to hire Charania, his friend and frequent guest. “The universe just pieced this thing together seemingly: Shams Charania,” he said. “Sham Charania’s the answer. I know there’s conversations happening. People are going to say that this is obviously who we are going to say. But if you take our bias out of this conversation, there’s only one answer. It’s Shams Charania.” 

Don’t underestimate McAfee’s clout inside Bristol. He has the ear of president of content Burke Magnus and chairman Jimmy Pitaro. Not to mention Disney boss Bob Iger. McAfee came out the winner in his internal feud with Norby Williamson, the most feared corporate infighter in ESPN’s 45-year history.

The Gold Rush Has Begun

Earlier this week, I wrote about how an entire industry of NBA writers, reporters, and producers are waiting with bated breath for new NBA rights partners NBC Sports and Amazon Prime Video to launch the biggest hoops hiring spree in decades. With Wojnarowski off the table, the Gold Rush has officially begun. 

Every NBA media type I know is calling their colleagues, friends, and agents to get the latest intelligence on upcoming openings. Don’t count out FanDuel, DraftKings, and Caesar’s Sportsbook, either. These sportsbooks want to become media companies. They’ve hired traditional sports media types like Mike Golic Sr., Kay Adams, Kenny Mayne, and Trey Wingo. In fact, it was only two years ago that fellow FOS writer A.J. Perez and I reported that sportsbooks giants were interested in hiring Schefter and Wojnarowski the previous time their contracts were up.

Woj. vs. Shams Feud Is Real

Yes, there’s mutual respect. But there’s no love lost between Wojnarowski and Charania. Admittedly, we don’t know about private communications. But Woj was known to be sharp-elbowed and territorial. I thought it was telling that, as of Friday morning, Charania had not tweeted a single word about his former mentor’s life-changing decision.