As ESPN looks for a successor to Adrian Wojnarowski on the NBA beat following his surprise retirement, the network has reportedly targeted Shams Charania and Jeff Passan as potential candidates for the job.
Per The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, Charania and Passan are considered top candidates to replace Wojnarowski.
Wojnarowski announced on Sept. 18 he was retiring from the news industry to take a job as general manager at St. Bonaventure, where he graduated from in 1991.
The Athletic reported that ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and president of content Burke Magnus were “surprised” when Wojnarowski informed them of his decision.
Charania felt like the most obvious candidate to step in for Wojnarowski because they have essentially been doing the same job covering the NBA for years, albeit for competing outlets. The two had a mentor-protege relationship when they worked together at Yahoo Sports before the dynamic reportedly turned more adversarial over time.
Passan would be an outside-the-box choice because his primary beat has been Major League Baseball. He also co-wrote a book, along with Dan Wetzel and Josh Peter, about college football titled Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series which was released in 2010.
While ESPN does have a partnership with MLB, there has been speculation the network could opt out of its current television deal with the league after next season.
John Ourand of Puck noted ESPN isn’t necessarily looking to get out of the baseball business, but it “wants to be able to get more for its $550 million annual deal” and could add local rights to its agreement at a time when MLB is trying to find a solution to its regional sports network problem.
According to Marchand, some of ESPN’s decision-makers want to “reimagine” the role of its top NBA insider. Passan has broken news and written long-form stories as part of his MLB coverage for the network.
Charania, much like Wojnarowski during his time at ESPN, is primarily a news-breaker who makes appearances on television and radio.
If Passan were to take the job, Marchand noted he would be mentored by Wojnarowski and current analyst Bobby Marks while learning to cover the NBA beat.
The NBA signed a new 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal in July, with ABC and ESPN keeping rights to the top package of games, including the NBA Finals.
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