As it turns out, sports fans weren’t the only ones surprised by Adrian Wojnarowski’s shocking retirement from ESPN.
According to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, the longtime NBA insider had only revealed the news to his bosses shortly before publicly announcing it on Wednesday morning. Suffice to say, they were caught off guard.
Woj told his ESPN’s bosses, Jimmy Pitaro and Burke Magnus, this morning. A source said they were “surpised” by the move.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) September 18, 2024
But while it didn’t take long for tributes from colleagues and fans to pour in, the reality for ESPN is that it now faces the unenviable task of replacing the preeminent NBA insider just weeks prior to the start of the 2024-25 season. Fortunately for the Worldwide Leader, there are a number of intriguing candidates available to fill the void, including the following:
If Woj was previously the top NBA insider, then that title now belongs to Shams Charania, who already wasn’t far behind. And if there’s a silver lining for ESPN when it comes to Wojnarowski’s departure, it’s that it comes at a time when Charania is nearing free agency.
After initially finding his footing as an NBA reporter working alongside Woj at Yahoo, Charania went from protege to rival, with the duo’s competition over breaking news having become the stuff of legends in recent years. Considering both his on-screen presence and propensity for breaking stories, the 30-year-old Chicago native seems like the most obvious choice for ESPN and there would certainly be something fitting about him ultimately filling the sizable shoes left behind by his former mentor.
Like Charania, Chris Haynes couldn’t have timed his impending free agency any better. It was just two weeks ago that Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post reported that Haynes’ contract at TNT Sports and Bleacher Report expires “shortly” and that he is expected to hit the open market.
After initially getting his start on the Portland TrailBlazers and Cleveland Cavaliers beats, Haynes made the jump to ESPN in 2016, joining the network to cover the high profile Golden State Warriors. He has since spent times at Yahoo and Turner, establishing himself as not only a league-wide news-breaker, but one who possesses a presence on camera, both of which would make him an ideal fit to return to his former employer in a lead role.
Could ESPN’s best replacement for Woj be in-house?
While Brian Windhorst might not be as prolific of a news-breaker as Woj, he’s clearly well-connected across the league. So much so, that some of his own scoops found themselves at odds with Woj’s.
Windhorst has a strong presence on television and is clearly one of the most versatile and valued members of ESPN’s NBA coverage. Perhaps the biggest question regarding whether he could replace Woj isn’t if he could increase his scoops ouput — he certainly could — but rather if he would even want all of the chaos associated with being a full-time insider.
Like Windhorst, Shelburne isn’t as prolific of a newsbreaker as Woj was — but she also hasn’t needed to be. She is, however, clearly well connected in the NBA’s most important city (Los Angeles) and her ESPN feature stories often have a habit of including breaking news.
Although he just announced a new venture with AllCity’s Dallas vertical, it’s not hard to imagine a world where Marc Stein makes his return to the Worldwide Leader. As one of the few NBA insiders whose information rivals Wojnarowski’s, he has obvious appeal and it’s long been rumored that it was that very rivalry that ultimately resulted in his departure from ESPN in 2017.
If ESPN is looking for an up-and-coming insider, then Jake Fischer fits the bill, as he has quietly been one of the NBA’s most consistent news-breakers during his stints at Bleacher Report and Yahoo. Hopefully, however, he has cut ties with whatever sources were feeding him inaccurate information throughout the 2024 NBA Draft.
