After losing the most prominent NBA insider, ESPN has apparently picked up his chief rival.
NBA reporter Shams Charania said Monday that he is joining ESPN as its primary NBA insider, filling a role previously occupied by Adrian Wojnarowski. Charania is moving to ESPN from his prior roles at The Athletic, Stadium and FanDuel.
The news was previously reported by Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post and Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports. Per Glasspiegel, ESPN contributor Pat McAfee lobbied for the hiring.
Charania’s move to ESPN follows Wojnarowski’s abrupt departure from the company earlier this fall. He and Wojnarowski have long been the highest-profile NBA insiders and were widely considered rivals.
The Charania addition marks the end of ESPN’s brief flirtation with possibly shifting insiders in other sports onto its NBA beat. Previous reporting indicated that ESPN was considering moving Jeff Passan off of MLB or having Adam Schefter add NBA reporting to his existing NFL roles.
His addition comes amidst a budget crunch at the company, which in recent weeks has laid off prominent faces Sam Ponder, Robert Griffin III and NBA reporter Zach Lowe.
If not ESPN, Charania would likely have been pursued by incoming NBA broadcast partners NBC and Amazon Prime. There is still a prominent NBA reporter on the market, former TNT and Bleacher Report insider Chris Haynes.
