A post from Shams Charania on X (formerly known as Twitter) can shake the entire NBA world. ESPN’s NBA Insider is famous for usually being the first one to break any major news in the NBA world. From team trade talks to injury updates, everything behind the scenes and any other breaking news, Charania is usually the first one to post about it on X and other social media platforms.
One could argue that without Twitter, Charania could not have built his career the same way as he has now. In a recent interview with other ESPN sports reporters, Charania revealed that the sole reason he joined Twitter in the first place was to see the aftermath of “The Decision”, which was LeBron James’ move to the Miami Heat.
“I was [14] in 2010, that’s good, you know how old I was. And you know why I did [joined Twitter] in 2010? It’s because of LeBron James, that’s it, that’s the only reason.”
So if James had not decided to join the Miami Heat and simply signed an extension with the Cavaliers, Charania may have joined Twitter much later, or potentially never, who knows?
While still in high school, he began covering the Chicago Bulls for a local website. He later went on to RealGM and Yahoo Sports, where he became well-known around the country for breaking important NBA stories. Charania built his career with not just his writing but also the speed of his tweets. Therefore, without Twitter, it is arguable that Charania may not have been as major an NBA Insider as he is today.
But earlier in the interview, Charania’s words indicated that he would have found another way into this world, just potentially not through Twitter, even if it weren’t for LeBron James.
While addressing why he became an NBA Insider, Charania dove into his passion for the sport and how the NBA consumed his life from a very young age.
“I feel like I was coming into, you know, I guess knowing what sports are and all of that, like mid-2000s was really when I started closely following sports.”
“And I think that around that time, that 2006 to 2010 period, like for me, I was just so obsessed with like, where’s this player going in the NBA? Where’s this coach going? Like, is this trade happening? Like I was growing up in Chicago, like I was monitoring every day leading up to each trade deadline.”
“Like that’s really what consumed my life. And so now, with what I’m doing, I feel like I’m just living out my dream. Like I feel like I’m just living out stuff that I was craving and and and like desperate to find out anyway.”
“And so to be in this position, it is cool, but it’s also like Jeff said, there’s a lot of responsibility. And of course, when I started, uh, you know, I started on this path, this journey, sophomore year of high school, that’s about 2010, 2011-ish. And so for me, I wasn’t able to just report right off the bat.”
“Like I also approached it looking from afar, like how do I handle myself? Like, how do I build relationships? I was cold calling agents, cold calling players, cold calling executives, cold emails, and all of that, whatever form of communication I could.”
“And then it was like analysis and feature stories. So, like I came up as a writer, I was writing 3,000, 5,000 words a day in high school and in college. And it wasn’t until I started to break a few stories that I loved the adrenaline rush that came with it. I don’t know why, but maybe that’s really what my calling was because that’s what I was obsessed with growing up.”
Now working at ESPN, Charania replaced their former Insider Adrian Wojnarowski, who retired to become the general manager of the basketball team at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure University. But before replacing him, Charania and Wojnarowski had an unsaid battle over who broke the news first on Twitter.
LeBron James unintentionally dropped the domino that began Charania’s journey on Twitter, and he is now sitting at the pinnacle of the sports reporting world.
