Shams Charania on The Pat McAfee Show Credit: The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN

How much pull does Pat McAfee have at ESPN?

We may be about to find out.

Shortly before Wednesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show went live, Adrian Wojnarowski sent shockwaves through the NBA (and sports media) world by announcing his retirement from ESPN. As such, the Worldwide Leader now has a void when it comes to its top NBA insider position, and it didn’t take long for McAfee to make an impassioned case for who should fill it.

“The universe just pieced this thing together seemingly: Shams Charania,” McAfee 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.

“Now bias in: great on our show, literally can handle anything, seemingly plugged in everywhere.”

While Charania’s reoccurring appearances on McAfee’s program — which is simulcast on ESPN — might have ruffled some feathers in the past considering his rivalry with Woj, the reality is that the 30-year-old Chicago native is, in fact, the most obvious replacement for his former mentor. And as McAfee alluded to, Wojnarowski’s sudden retirement from the news-breaking game comes at a convenient time for ESPN, with Charania reportedly set to hit free agency in the near future.

Although Charania isn’t the only candidate to replace Woj, he is seemingly the only one who could replicate the now-St. Bonaventure GM’s output when it comes to breaking news. So while it might seem strange for McAfee to be making a public plea to ESPN about how it should handle such a high profile decision, the reality is that he’s not saying anything that network executives haven’t likely already said themselves.

[The Pat McAfee Show]

About Ben Axelrod

Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.