Shams Charania
American sportswriter (born 1994)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shams Charania (/ˈʃɑːmz/ SHAHMZ; born April 1, 1994) is an American sports reporter for ESPN, where he covers the National Basketball Association. He previously worked for The Athletic, Stadium, and FanDuel TV.
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Shams Charania | |
|---|---|
Charania in 2023 | |
| Born | April 1, 1994 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education | Loyola University Chicago (BA) |
| Occupation | Sports Reporter for ESPN |
Charania's success has been attributed to his persistent networking while sports reporting shifted away from long-form columns toward viral scoops.[1]
Early life
Charania attended New Trier High School and graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a BA in Communications in 2017.[2]
Career
He began his sportswriting career at age 17 covering the Chicago Bulls for ChicagoNow, a subsidiary of the Chicago Tribune. In 2012, Charania began writing for RealGM, and reporting small transactions around the league.[3][4] In 2015, Charania was hired by Adrian Wojnarowski to work for Yahoo Sports.[1]
After joining Yahoo, Charania began to break news of deals and high-profile signings in the summer of 2016,[5] including Dwight Howard's move to the Atlanta Hawks, DeMar DeRozan's re-signing with the Toronto Raptors, Luol Deng's signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Jamal Crawford's signing with the Los Angeles Clippers.[6] This set off a friendly rivalry between Wojnarowski and Charania.[7] On August 14, 2018, Shams announced he was leaving Yahoo Sports for The Athletic and Stadium at the end of the month.[8]
Charania was a paid contributor for the sports gambling company FanDuel.[9][10] His work for the company, alongside his work as a reporter, has been described by articles in SBNation and the Washington Post as a potential conflict of interest, as his reporting can shift betting odds and potentially reveal pertinent info to FanDuel.[11] SBNation.com documented two cases where tweets by Charania giving information attributed to anonymous sources caused wild swings in the betting market, but which later turned out to be without foundation.[10]
In 2021, Defector Media began awarding the annual "Shams Charania Award for Excellence in Divulging of Information Through Syntax Comprehended by Many" to celebrate confusing sentences written by journalists.[1][12]
In 2023, Charania reported the first three picks of the 2023 NFL draft on Twitter ahead of even NFL insiders.[13]
On October 7, 2024, Charania announced that he would be joining ESPN as the company's Senior NBA Insider.[14] He replaced Wojnarowski, who left the role to become General Manager of the St. Bonaventure Men's Basketball program.[15]
On February 2, 2025, Charania broke news of the Los Angeles Lakers trading Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks for Luka Dončić in a multi-team deal; the trade was so surprising that many people, including NBA players and Charania himself, thought his phone had been hacked.[16][17][18]
During the 2025–26 NBA season, Charania faced criticism for spreading unsubstantiated rumors about the Milwaukee Bucks looking to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo.[19][20] Charania played in the 2026 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game on Team Giannis, recording 0 points and three turnovers.[21]