NBA insider Shams Charania’s future appears up in the air ahead of the 2024 season.
Since he began his career blogging in Chicago whilst in high school, the now 30-year-old has gone on to become one of the NBA‘s most prominent insiders.
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Currently working for The Athletic, Stadium, and FanDuel, Charania is reportedly in line to cash in on his growing fame once more.
His contracts with the three outlets are said to be set to expire in the coming months, as per the New York Post.
The report added that he opted not to comment on his contractual situation.
Previously Charania signed two-year extensions with both The Athletic and Stadium in 2022.
The values of these deals are unclear.
Whether or not Charania is looking to remain with his current employers, or test the market elsewhere remains to be seen.
But should he opt to dip into free agency, there will likely be no shortage of suitors.
These could include NBC, ESPN, or Amazon Prime, with the three networks having reportedly agreed to monster TV rights deals with the NBA.
All in all, the deal is said to be worth $76 billion over an 11-year span, as per the Associated Press, via ESPN.
However, it seems unlikely ESPN would be a fit for Charania, given that his main rival Adrian Wojnarowski already calls the network home.
Wojnarowski mentored Charania early in his career, bringing him to Yahoo while he studied at Loyola University.
In 2016, Wojnarowski even labeled Charania the sport’s “best young reporter,” also predicting his understudy would become “the news breaker in the NBA,” as per New York Magazine.
The following year, ESPN snapped up Wojnarowski, with Charania continuing to grow in his absence before moving to The Athletic in 2018.
By The U.S. Sun’s Assistant Sports Editor Damian Burchardt.
THE new TV rights deal is promising to be a humongous win for NBA players.
The league is set to more than double the revenue coming from its media partners, pocketing about $6.9 billion per year, which will inevitably lead to a huge salary cap spike in 2025-26.
That is going to send the value of player contracts skyrocketing.
Projected figures suggest we might see the first $100 million-per-year deal being signed soon.
Currently, Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum is projected to earn the highest single-season salary in NBA history, collecting $71.5 million in 2029-30.
It does feel like basketball fans would be on the losing side of the fight if the NBA and TNT indeed parted ways, though.
Inside the NBA is a one-of-a-kind sports entertainment show, as evidenced by ESPN’s ongoing failure to come up with its own version of the program in recent years.
The NBA won’t be the same without Kenny and Ernie trying to make sense of Shaq and Chuck’s never-ending bickering every Tuesday night.
In the years since, Charania has established himself not only as a top insider, with 2.3 million followers on X but also as a TV star.
He regularly appears in content for Stadium, as well as on the popular FanDuel TV show, Up And Adams.
Charania has also made appearances on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show since it moved to the network in September 2023.
But despite his success, and the likelihood of more to come in the future, Charania’s drive appears as potent as ever.
“My mind is consumed by, ‘What can I do today to get information that I didn’t have yesterday?'” he told New York Magazine in October 2023.
“It consumes everything I do.”
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