Shams Charania joins ESPN as Senior NBA Insider, replaces Adrian Wojnarowski

Shams Charania was officially named ESPN’s new Senior NBA Insider, according to a release on his Twitter page.
“I am honored to join ESPN as the company’s Senior NBA Insider,” Charania wrote on Twitter. “I can’t wait to be part of an incredible group of colleagues at ESPN and serve the sports audience worldwide.”
He’ll replace the outgoing Adrian Wojnarowski, who left the business entirely. Woj is now the GM of the St. Bonaventure Men’s Basketball team.
The Adrian Wojnarowski-Shams Charania dynamic has always been fascinating, considering they were colleagues and rivals during their time as NBA insiders.
With “Woj” now out of the business, Charania is considered the top insider. Naturally, ESPN would want to have someone like him to give them a trio of Adam Schefter (NFL), Jeff Passan (MLB) and Shams Charania (NBA). That just works really well from the outsider’s perspective.
“McAfee has publicly stumped for ESPN to hire his frequent guest star as the natural successor to Wojnarowski. Said McAfee on his show: ‘Shams Charania’s the answer. I know there’s conversations happening. … But if you take our bias out of this conversation, there’s only one answer. It’s Shams Charania,’” Front Office Sports’ Mike McCarthy wrote.
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Schefter and Passan were previously mentioned as options to replace Wojnarowski at ESPN. Combining NFL and NBA duties, Schefter would’ve become the “Ultimate Insider” while Passan would’ve moved from baseball to basketball.
Wojnarowski, 55, agreed to become the general manager of the men’s basketball program at St. Bonaventure, his alma mater. In his role with the Bonnies, Wojnarowski will work on name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities and serve as a liaison with collectives.
In addition, he will involve himself in transfer portal management, recruit, family and alumni player relationships, professional player programs and program fundraising.
Now, his former protege is set to take his spot at the four-letter network.