Former NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski recently walked away from his media job after years of being at the top of the industry. But in a chat on the ‘Eye on College Basketball’ podcast, Woj confirmed that he has no regrets over his decision to change career paths.
“In February I started to feel like this might be my last of everything,” said Wojnarowski on the ‘Eye on College Basketball’ podcast. “Last trade deadline, last draft, last free agency. In my mind, I started to feel a sense of finality. The conversations with Bonaventure — we had been talking about a GM for the program, I worked closely with the school. Being a big part of our NIL collective and had relationships with our players… so there was a lot that started to fall into place where I started to think for me it felt a tremendous pull toward. It wasn’t a hard decision.”
People don’t often associate journalism with hard work, but Adrian Wojnarowski proved just how extreme things could get. The man was the top NBA insider for years, starting with Yahoo! Sports and then transitioning to ESPN in 2017. On social media, he became legendary for his “Woj bombs” that would break major news in the NBA.
Woj signed with ESPN for five years and $35 million in 2022 but it was just two summers later that he’d announce his retirement from reporting. Now, the iconic sports journalist is taking his talents to his Alma Mater, St. Bonaventure, where he will serve as the GM of the men’s basketball program.
Only Wojnarowski can for certain why he left the company at the peak of his run, but it’s no secret that the job was highly demanding. Staying up to date with all the latest news and rumors requires one to be always online and available with limited free time to do anything else. Throughout the season, and especially during the trade deadline, you could see Wojnarowski on his phone constantly so he could never miss a scoop.
Wojnarowski’s former rival, Shams Charania, described the experience of living this way and it really does illustrate how much this particular job consumes one’s life. According to Shams, he was typically on his phone 17-18 hours per day and could never disconnect from his sources, whether he was traveling, showering, or anything in between.
Breaking the biggest NBA stories always involves fierce commitment and the patience to build and develop countless connections over many years. But with so much competition in the field, being the first required unsustainable levels of commitment, and not everyone can handle it for long. While Wojnarowski was one of the best at his craft, the whole thing just became too much and he wanted to live a different life.
Now Woj can take a step back as Shams Charania takes his place. Charania has slid easily into Adrian’s role but it remains to be seen how long he’ll stay in the position. Clearly, it’s a very demanding job and it may not be something that can be endured for very long.
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