Hours before the official announcement scheduled on Amazon Prime’s broadcast that the Thunder’s star player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, had won the MVP award, Shams Charania leaked the information in a post on X that created a domino effect in the NBA.
Several renowned voices across the league were very unhappy with the leak. Among them was the Warriors veteran, Draymond Green. He recorded an episode of his podcast ‘The Draymond Green Show’ and had some stinging words for Shams Charania’s actions.
“There was a discrepancy with this [time’s MVP announcement]. Shams leaked it. Listen, I think the NBA has to do something about that. Like, ultimately, you’re the NBA. You control the media. Shams is an NBA reporter with ESPN, who is a partner of the NBA. Like, to tweet at 6:00 in the morning about who the NBA MVP is, it’s actually embarrassing,” the Warriors veteran said.
“Like, it makes our league look like we have no organization. It makes our league look like it; it just makes it look like that’s child’s play. Like we can’t hold the winner of the most prestigious individual award in the NBA. We can’t hold those results until it’s actually time to be announced. That was a little disappointing,” Green further added.
“There is no way that can happen. Like, if there’s supposed to be an announcement on Amazon Prime, the announcement has to happen on Amazon Prime. This is something Commissioner Silver has to do something about. This can’t happen. Like, come on. You leak it on Twitter? Also, it can’t be that important to leak information. Like, come on. I thought that was pretty pathetic if I’m being honest.”
“Like, the NBA has to do something; that can’t be the case. The MVP gets leaked at six o’clock in the morning, I actually thought it was fake cuz I saw somebody else tweet it. So I had to start searching.”
“So I had to start searching, and then go on Instagram and be like, oh no, it’s true. Like that’s come on. Something has to be done about that. Like that cannot happen. The leak of the NBA MVP. Like, come on.”
“It’d be one thing if it’s a reporter that’s not prominent in the NBA, but like it’s Shams. Like Shams has to be in partnership with the NBA to be as prominent as he is. That can’t happen. So I thought that was embarrassing,” Green concluded.
Green was among several former NBA players who were unhappy with Charania, including Blake Griffin, who called him out on live television during the announcement.
“It’s Sunday, Shams. Go to brunch, nerd,” Griffin said during the Amazon Prime announcement.
Subsequently, Shams Charania appeared on the Pat McAfee show and justified his actions as being well within the confines of ethical sports journalism.
“When I get news, when I get information, if I’ve vetted it, like I did late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, when I have news 100%, no matter how big, no matter how small, and in this case, obviously, very, very big accomplishment, very big news around the NBA, for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being the 14th player in NBA history to be the back-to-back league MVP.”
“He’s only, you know, since Stephen Curry, the only guard to be back-to-back. There’s a list of accomplishments here. So this is a massive story. And when I get it, I vet it. And then my job is to report the news. And so that’s all I focus on. That’s what I wake up thinking about. That’s what I go to sleep thinking about. I feel the responsibility… It’s not going to be the last time I do my job to the best of my ability,” Charania said in his justification.
It will be interesting to see if the league steps in for any repercussions on Charania, but based on his justification, it seems he may not face any consequences.
For now, Charania has only proven yet again the deep extent to which his network runs across the NBA to get him important news before anyone else. In my opinion, he has harmed no one except the Amazon Prime broadcast team, who were planning to capitalize on the information.
