Report: Shams Charania 'clear favorite' to replace Adrian Wojnarowski as ESPN NBA insider

Shams Charania is the favorite and close to replacing Adrian Wojnarowski as ESPN’s NBA insider, according to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.

“The high-level talks for Charania to succeed retired insider Adrian Wojnarowski are not finalized, warn sources familiar with the discussions,” McCarthy wrote. “But the 30-year-old Charania is emerging as the clear favorite to succeed Wojnarowski, who retired from journalism to join his alma mater, St. Bonaventure University, as the GM of its men’s basketball program.”

McCarthy reported Charania is at the “five-yard line” with ESPN and the endorsement from Pat McAfee has helped his prospects.

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,'” McCarthy wrote.

Shams Charania on track to replace Adrian Wojnarowski

Charania currently works for The Athletic and FanDuel TV after having stints with Yahoo Sports and Stadium. NBC Sports and Amazon were reportedly interested as well, per McCarthy.

Schefter and Passan were previously mentioned as options to replace Wojnarowski at ESPN. Combining NFL and NBA duties, Schefter would become the “Ultimate Insider” while Passan would move 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 on track to take his spot at the four-letter network.