Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
NBA teams are getting fed private info from Shams and Woj.
An in-depth dive into the life of NBA insider Shams Charania was published by New York Magazine last week, and while the superficial info about how Shams lives his life caught everyones’ eye, when you dig a little deeper into how the sausage is being made by insider reporting we see a picture that’s beyond abhorrent.
It’s no secret that being an insider the magnitude of Shams, Adrian Wojnarowski or Adam Schefter requires extensive quid pro quo agreements and private glad-handing. The widespread assumption up to this point is that these agreements were largely with agents, and that information from a team was used primarily to shape the messaging in tweets in a way the organization wanted. This time it’s different.
The New York Magazine piece featured a quote with one NBA executive who said the quiet part out loud and openly admitted that Shams and Woj assist in tampering with player contracts to the benefit of those who provide them with scoops.
“Woj or Shams might say, ‘Hey, don’t get levered up on Player X; he’s not gonna get an offer from his team,’” the executive said. “There are times when they have information that has prevented me from making a mistake in terms of the magnitude of a contract offer or the inclusion of a specific asset in a deal.”
The entire business of insider reporting is shady, but this is so beyond the pale it’s jaw-dropping. If a team executive were to call another and provide info on who they were, or weren’t planning to sign they would be hit with an astronomical tampering fine. Keep in mind that Doc Rivers and the Clippers were fined $50,000 for Rivers simply saying on ESPN that Kawhi Leonard was like Michael Jordan. The league took that comparison as attempted tampering, and slapped his wrist.
What we’re being told here about Shams and Woj is that they are actively participating in the free agency process for the benefit of certain executives who supply them with information. The power they wield is unmatched, unchecked, and ultimately serves to damage the earning potential of athletes to forward their own gains.
It goes beyond sending 5,000 texts and emails a day as part of the “grind,” and into the entire reason outlets drop the title “journalist” from insiders (which implies an ethical code) to rebrand them as “insiders.” It’s the wild west of sports media, where anything goes, power dominates, and everyone else is lost in the shuffle. In this case we have mammoth media entities employing insiders who cherish the attention they get from having the scoops, executives who love being fed information under the table so they can make informed decisions, and the insiders themselves who are reaping the fame and (relative) fortune that comes with their personal brand being synonymous with breaking huge stories.
Who suffers in this transaction?
Players, who are being low-balled without their knowledge because of information being passes through insiders.
Real journalists, who have seen their access restricted and ability to break stories evaporate because of an unwillingness to agree to these quid pro quo arrangements.
This whole scenario is even more dire with you continue down the slippery slope. If we know that NBA executives are being fed information that helps their decision making, then what’s to say certain teams aren’t benefitting the most? If you know that the Lakers or Celtics attract more attention than any other team then wouldn’t it behoove you to ensure they benefit the most from your information so you can stay in their good graces?
This gets even messier when you think about the links both of the NBA’s major insiders having with gambling companies. As it stands Shams has a deal with FanDuel, which was scrutinized during the 2023 NBA Draft when betting lines moves after he suggested that the Charlotte Hornets would take Scoot Henderson with the No. 2 pick. Meanwhile Woj is employed by ESPN, who recently launched ESPN BET in association with PENN ENTERTAINMENT to handling their gambling division.
Somehow this is all fine. As it stands neither the NBA, nor the NFL have any policy on how teams operate in regard to communicating with insiders. Perhaps that could change now with the emergence of evidence teams are using insiders as a way to rig free agency, or at the very least suppress spending and “save a few bucks” thanks to knowledge they wouldn’t have had.
This is the most clear and blatant example of insiders not just helping teams craft the messaging of their transactions, but being integral on transactions happening in the first place. We are past the realm or this just feeling “icky” and have crossed far into the sport being manipulated by a few key actors. Now it’s on the league and unions to step in and protect the parity of their sport before this goes any further.
