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Shams Charania

Shams Charania
Charania in 2023
Born (1994-04-01) April 1, 1994 (age 31)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
EducationLoyola University Chicago
OccupationSports Reporter for ESPN

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.

Early life

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Charania attended New Trier High School and graduated from Loyola University Chicago in 2017.[1]

Career

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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.[2][3] After several years, Charania caught the attention of Adrian Wojnarowski, then working for Yahoo Sports.[citation needed]

After joining Yahoo, Charania began to break news of deals and high-profile signings in the summer of 2016,[4] 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.[5] This set off a friendly rivalry between Wojnarowski and Charania.[6]

On August 14, 2018, Shams announced via his Twitter account he would be leaving Yahoo Sports for The Athletic and Stadium at the end of the month.[7] In 2023, Charania reported the first three picks of the 2023 NFL draft on Twitter ahead of even NFL insiders.[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]

On October 7, 2024, Charania announced that he would be joining ESPN as the company's Senior NBA Insider.[12] He replaced Wojnarowski, who left the role to become General Manager of the St. Bonaventure Men's Basketball program.[13]

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.[14][15][16]

References

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  1. ^ "Shams Charania Joins ESPN as Senior NBA Insider". October 9, 2024.
  2. ^ Link, Jeff (March 18, 2025). "How ESPN's Shams Charania (BA '17) became the NBA's scoop king". Loyola University Chicago. Retrieved July 2, 2025.
  3. ^ Sprung, Shlomo (December 24, 2019). "The Rise And Evolution Of Shams Charania". Forbes. Retrieved July 2, 2025.
  4. ^ Russell, Jake (June 25, 2016). "'The Vertical' NBA draft show live stream was a huge hit with fans. Sorry, ESPN". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  5. ^ "Meet Shams Charania, the College Senior Breaking NBA News in Class". Complex. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  6. ^ "Adrian Wojnarowski And Shams Charania Now Do Battle For NBA Scoops". UPROXX. July 13, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  7. ^ "Twitter". August 14, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  8. ^ Taylor, Cody (April 27, 2023). "Twitter reacts to NBA reporter Shams Charania tipping NFL draft picks". USA Today. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  9. ^ "A Reporter's Tweet Moved NBA Draft Odds. He Also Works for a Gambling Company". Wall Street Journal. 2023.
  10. ^ a b Dator, James (July 2, 2024). "Shams Charania's conflict of interest keeps swinging NBA gambling markets". SBNation.com.
  11. ^ Strauss, Ben (June 23, 2023). "FanDuel makes betting lines. FanDuel's Shams Charania moves them". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.
  12. ^ Charania, Shams (October 7, 2024). "Post".
  13. ^ "Shams Charania to Become ESPN's Senior NBA Insider". SI. October 7, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  14. ^ TSN ca Staff (February 2, 2025). "Los Angeles Lakers acquire Luka Doncic from Dallas Mavericks for Davis in three-team deal". TSN. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  15. ^ McMenamin, Dave (February 2, 2025). "Sources: Luka to Lakers, AD to Mavs in stunner". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  16. ^ Neumann, Sam (February 3, 2025). "Shams Charania thought his phone was hacked amid Luka Dončić trade". Awful Announcing. Retrieved February 4, 2025.