ESPN is wasting no time getting its latest talent acquisition on the air. NBA insider extraordinaire Shams Charania will make his ESPN debut on Thursday, the network announced.
The Senior NBA insider role at ESPN opened abruptly last month after Adrian Wojnarowski left the post to pursue a job at his alma mater St. Bonaventure University as the general manager of the men’s basketball team. And while other names such as Adam Schefter and Jeff Passan were floated to fill Wojnarowski’s role, it was all much ado about nothing, as Charania was the most obvious replacement.
Thursday, new ESPN Senior NBA Insider @ShamsCharania makes his debut across ESPN platforms
Details: https://t.co/5BNQcI7XuB pic.twitter.com/F314GAE8SW
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) October 9, 2024
The former Woj protégé turned rival had been the clear No. 2 on the beat for some time. Charania has served as an insider for a number of outlets including The Athletic and Stadium recently, and Yahoo Sports before that.
Per ESPN’s press release on Wednesday, Charania will appear across the network’s entire daytime lineup on Thursday including Get Up, First Take, The Pat McAfee Show, SportsCenter, and NBA Today.
It was revealed yesterday that although Charania is replacing his old foe on the NBA beat, he won’t be getting compensated at the same rate. Puck’s John Ourand reported that Charania will make “less than half of Woj’s” old salary, which was a reported $7 million.
As expected, Charania will appear across both ESPN’s linear and digital properties, regularly contributing to its NBA programs NBA Countdown and NBA Today, and also offering his reports to the network’s NBA Draft coverage.
ESPN President, Content Burke Magnus said of Charania, “Shams is one of the most well-connected and accomplished journalists in sports and we’re proud that he will now call ESPN his home.” The timeline of events couldn’t have been more fortunate for Magnus and ESPN’s top executives. Charnia’s contracts with The Athletic and FanDuel expired this summer and the insider was set to become a “free agent.”
Other suitors such as NBC or Amazon would’ve made sense, as both are set to broadcast NBA games starting next season under the league’s new media rights agreements. However, given ESPN’s relationship with the NBA as the league’s lead partner, with rights to the NBA Finals and NBA Draft every year, ESPN was positioned to get the most mileage out of Charania.
And starting Thursday, ESPN will begin running up Charania’s odometer.
[ESPN]
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.