Some devastating news hit the NBA world Wednesday as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski dropped his last Woj Bomb and officially retired from his role in sports media and left ESPN to become the general manager at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure.
His departure leaves a massive void at ESPN and in the sports media space in general, and ESPN is working quickly to land a couple of massive names to replace him.
According to Michael McCarthy of FOS, ESPN is expected to target Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and Woj’s biggest rival, Shams Charania of The Athletic.
ESPN is expected to target NBA insiders Shams Charania and Chris Haynes following Woj’s retirement, per @MMcCarthyREV.
Who should the network scoop up? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/jSYsYOLxtQ
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 18, 2024
Woj had three years and about $21 million left on his deal with ESPN, and the company reportedly had no idea a retirement was coming.
This is a rough offseason for NBA fans who are also dealing with the fact that TNT’s Inside The NBA is also officially heading into its final season, so the media space is changing drastically.
Charania and Haynes are obvious replacements for ESPN, particularly Shams, who had a years-long battle with Woj over who could break NBA news first.
The rivalry will go down in history, and Shams’ youth finally won out in the long run.
It seems like a fair bet that he’ll be next in line for ESPN, and it’s hard to imagine the company won’t be able to throw enough money around to pry him away from The Athletic.
