NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news of James Harden being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, and he did so late on Monday night at 2:01 AM ET. On the latest episode of Woj Pod, the 54-year-old explained how he ended up basically spending the night at Newark Airport to ensure he was the one to break that story.
“I was at Newark Airport,” Wojnarowski said. “I was getting ready to fly to L.A. to go out and be out with our NBA Countdown crew this week and NBA Today. It was suggested to me to not get on a plane, that you might be — it’s always my worst fear with this job is that you’re on a plane and the wireless is spotty and you can’t get to what you need to do.
Once the insider was tipped off about a potential deal being in the making, he decided he wouldn’t be taking the flight. So, from around 5:00 PM, Wojnarowski just waited at the airport to get the big news.
“So I sat in Newark Airport, watched the place close down, and then almost start to reopen again,” Wojnarowski continued. “So from like 5 PM, they threw me out of the concierge lounge, or the United lounge I should say at around 10:30 PM. when it closed and then I just went and sat downstairs until I left about 3:30 in the morning.”
(starts at 5:13 mark):
Whatever you may think of Wojnarowski, you have to admire the commitment. To spend hours at an airport just so that you can be the first to break the story shows his dedication to the job.
The lounge would have offered a relaxing experience for the first few hours, but after that, he just had to sit and wait at an airport that would have started to feel a little bit deserted as time went by. All that waiting did end up being worth it for Wojnarowski, though, as he broke the news on the trade well before anyone else.
Shams Charania Once Revealed How Many Hours A Day He Has To Be On His Phone
If it wasn’t clear enough from Wojnarowski’s account, what the life of an NBA insider is like, we had gotten some insight from Shams Charania on the matter too. Charania revealed he is on his phone for 17-18 hours a day due to the fear of being scooped.
He stated that it even goes up to 20 hours a day during the NBA Draft and free agency, which is just ridiculous. Charania shares Wojnarowski’s feat of spotty internet connections on flights and admits his heart sinks when he’s on a flight where the WiFi isn’t working.
He has even stopped driving to work, as it might lead to him missing a scoop. I’m sure he is more than well compensated for his work, but this certainly isn’t the kind of life that a lot of people would be able to live.
The Relationship Between Adrian Wojnarowski And Shams Charania
While Wojnarowski and Charania have become fairly popular figures, you’d never see either of the two acknowledge the other in any way, shape, or form. NBA insiders described Wojnarowski and Charania’s relationship as similar to Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.
Shams actually worked under Woj at one point during their time at Yahoo and the two had a fine relationship, but that’s no longer the case now. Charania doesn’t want the Athletic to share any content from Wojnarowski and similarly, ESPN discourages the sharing of any Athletic content. There’s a clear rivalry between the two men, and Woj ended up winning this round fairly easily.
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