ESPN Could Turn To One Of Its Own To Replace Adrian Wojnarowski

Replacing an NBA insider such as Adrian Wojnarowski will be no easy task. But ESPN now has to try after Woj stunned the basketball community and announced his retirement.

He is now headed to St. Bonaventure, his alma mater, to become GM of the men’s basketball program — and ESPN now has a massive hole to fill.

With rumors of The Athletic’s Shams Charania and others in play, truth is, ESPN may just turn to one of its own to serve as Woj’s replacement.

“While (ESPN) could look to replace Wojnarowski from the outside, one source with direct knowledge of the network’s thinking said it could try to create a new top insider from its long list of NBA reporters, with Wojnarowski perhaps serving as a mentor working with Cristina Daglas, a top editor for the coverage,” wrote Andrew Marchand, Richard Deitsch, C.J. Moore and Alex Andrejev of The Athletic. 

But yes, as we’ve relayed, Charania is set to become a media free agent, with his contract at The Athletic expiring. Interestingly, he began as sort of a Wojnarowski protege when the two worked at The Vertical, a since-dissolved NBA insider network from Yahoo Sports.

Rumors of friction between Wojnarowski and Charania surfaced after Woj left for ESPN, though Hoops Wire has never confirmed as much. But if there was any sort of disharmony, you’d think that could factor into ESPN’s hire — especially if Wojnarowski is indeed serving as an advisor in the process.

“ESPN could also reimagine the role, although it has similar insider-type positions for other sports,” The Athletic wrote. “If ESPN went this route, it would be a significant change for the network, which has made continuous NBA coverage a central part of its programming, with Wojnarowski a leading presence.”

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst is among the names being mentioned on the rumor mill as a potential Woj replacement. Same goes for Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report, who is reportedly leaving TNT Sports, as well as Marc Stein of The Stein Line, an inductee in the media wing of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Haynes and Stein are former ESPN employees.

Basically, wih less than two weeks before the start of training camp, the network will have some big decisions to make. The NBA, after all, is right around the corner.