Shams Charania on The Pat McAfee Show Credit: The Pat McAfee Show
By Sean Keeley on

Does a reporter have a responsibility to sit on breaking news because a broadcaster has a plan to announce that news in primetime?

That’s a question that was up for debate recently at the NFL Draft, and it’s back in the discussion this week after ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania broke the news that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would be named MVP for the second straight season.

“Multiple sources tell me this morning that Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been voted as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player,” Charania said on a Sunday edition of SportsCenter after initially breaking the news in a post on X. “This means he’s won back-to-back MVP awards.”

While breaking news ASAP is a core tenet of an insider’s job, some criticized Charania for the early announcement. That includes the Prime Video NBA studio crew, who chastized the ESPN reporter and told him to “Go to brunch, you nerd.”

Charania appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday and defended his decision to report the SGA news, saying that it’s quite literally in his job description to do so.

“I mean, listen, part of me is like, what are we talking about here?” asked Charania. “The other part of me is like, for me, when I get news, when I get information, if I’ve vetted it like I did late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, when I have news 100%, no matter how big, no matter how small, and in this case, obviously very, very big accomplishment, very big news around the NBA, for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being the 14th player in NBA history to be the back-to-back league MVP. He’s only, since Stephen Curry, the only guard to be back-to-back. He’s the only player to go back-to-back, period, since Nikola Jokić. There’s a list of accomplishments here. I mean, he’s in rarefied air.

“So this is a massive story. And when I get it, I vet it. And then my job is to report the news. And so that’s all I focus on. That’s what I wake up thinking about. That’s what I go to sleep thinking about. I feel a responsibility. And like you said, Pat, this isn’t the first time necessarily, but it’s not going to be the last time where I’m just going to try to do my job to the best of my ability.”

In a vacuum, Charania is right. Whether you like what they do or not, an insider’s role is to break important news about the league they cover as quickly as possible. They’re not supposed to take things such as a league broadcaster’s timing into consideration.

Now, there is a flip side to the argument. Would Charania have broken the news the same way if ESPN were broadcasting Game 7 Sunday night and were given the chance to make the announcement? You’d like to think he’d do it the same way, but we know those wires already get crossed when it comes to draft coverage.

Speaking of, ESPN wasn’t above taking a cheeky shot back at Prime when Charania appeared on NBA Today on Monday. Host Malika Andrews welcomed him to the program by noting that he was joining it “fresh off brunch.”

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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