Pat McAfee Names Replacement For Adrian Wojnarowski

Pat McAfee and Adrian Wojnarowski (Images Credit: Getty Images and X/SherwoodStrauss)

On Wednesday, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski dropped the biggest “Woj Bomb” on social media with his decision to leave ESPN and retire from the news industry. While the biggest sports network in the world is looking for an ideal substitute for the 55-year-old, sports analyst Pat McAfee has already chosen a perfect replacement.

Adrian Wojnarowski decided to leave ESPN after seven years to become the general manager of his alma mater, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball program. Reacting to his retirement announcement, sports pundit Stephen A. Smith called it a “devastating loss” for the basketball media.

While talking on The Pat McAfee Show, the 37-year-old host named The Athletic’s Shams Charania a perfect replacement for Wojnarowski. McAfee said, “The universe just pieced this thing together seemingly: Shams Charania. Shams Charania is the answer.”

“I know there’s conversations happening. People are going to say this is obviously who we’re going to say. But if you take our bias out of this conversation, there’s only one answer and it’s Shams Charania.”

Before joining ESPN, Adrian Wojnarowski worked for Yahoo Sports, and the 30-year-old Shams Charania was his protegee. Following their split, the two became rivals in NBA reporting. Over the years, Woj and Charania contested each other in breaking NBA stories on social media.

With Wojnarowski retired from the industry, Shams Charania could become the unchallenged leader of the NBA reporters. He joined The Athletic in 2018 and boasts a robust network of sources for trades, signings, and other NBA developments. According to reports, besides Shams, NBA insider Chris Haynes is among the frontrunners to replace Woj at ESPN. Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein are the other names on the list.