After Adrian Wojnarowski announced his stunning retirement from journalism to work for his alma mater last month, the sports media giant signed his one-time protégé Shams Charania to be the senior NBA insider.

Charania announced the move himself on X/Twitter, saying “I am honored to join ESPN as the company’s Senior NBA Insider. I can’t wait to be part of an incredible group of colleagues at ESPN and serve the sports audience worldwide.”

In addition to Charania, the company reportedly considered internal candidates who were already familiar with the “insider” world. Famed NFL insider Adam Schefter, who has done some moonlighting in between football seasons as an NBA sideline reporter, was in consideration as well as MLB insider Jeff Passan.

After several years of covering the Chicago Bulls—already gaining access to a major pro sports team as a teenager—the 30-year-old Chicago native joined Yahoo! Sports and caught the eye of the man called Woj, who had been both an NBA insider and columnist. Wojnarowski was as well-known for breaking news of trades and free agent signings as he was for “spoiling” ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage by tweeting out the team selections before they were announced on the air.

In a plot twist, Wojnarowski left Yahoo for ESPN in the summer of 2017, and Charania ascended to replace him. Just over a year later, Charania left Yahoo for The Athletic and Stadium, the OTT sports channel. Since both left Yahoo, many fans believe that a supposed rivalry had ensued between mentor and mentee as each worked to be the first to break significant NBA news.

Charania was also a paid contributor to FanDuel, often making appearances on the company’s FanDuel TV in addition to his duties for The Athletic. Shams had been a frequent guest on The Pat McAfee Show, as the former NFL punter had been pushing for ESPN to hire him. In an email to Sportico, the network said that Charania will be exclusive to ESPN, and he will no longer appear on FanDuel TV.

Wojnarowski, who was in the middle of a reported five-year, $35 million deal with ESPN, announced his retirement from journalism to become the first general manager for the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball program.