On Monday, Shams Charania officially announced that he’ll be filling Adrian Wojnarowski’s shoes by joining ESPN as a Senior NBA Insider.
But as it turns out, he won’t be filling Wojnarowski’s place on the Worldwide Leader’s payroll.
In his latest newsletter for Puck (subscription required), John Ourand revealed that while Charania’s new salary remains unknown, it’s at least “less than half of Woj’s.” According to multiple reports, Wojnarowski was making $7 million per year before he retired from the news-breaking business last month to become the general manager of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball program.
Almost immediately after Woj’s stunning announcement, all eyes turned to Charania, who was already set to become a free agent following the expiration of his contracts at The Athletic, FanDuel TV and Stadium. The ensuing weeks, however, saw reports surface that ESPN was looking internally to replace its top NBA news-breaker, with both the network’s NFL (Adam Schefter) and MLB (Jeff Passan) insiders linked to the position.
According to Ourand, one of the most appealing parts of such a move would have been the ability to completely wipe Wojnarowski’s $7 million salary from the books by not hiring an outside replacement. Passan, however, passed on the opportunity in order to remain focused on his MLB coverage and the idea of Schefter becoming a “super insider” covering both the NFL and NBA never gained much steam before the network officially hired Charania on Monday.
Despite the reports regarding Schefter and Passan, hiring Charania always seemed like the most sensible and it’s worth noting that one of the network’s cornerstone talents, Pat McAfee, campaigned for the move both publicly an privately. And despite their previous rivalry on the NBA beat, Wojnarowski also gave his former protégé’s hiring his blessing, discussing the matter on Monday’s episode of The Jim Rome Show.
“I hope he has as fulfilling and as rewarding of a career as I’ve had,” Wojnarowski said. “I wish him the best, and he’s got a great team around him at ESPN.”
[Puck]
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.