NBA insider Shams Charania has decided to leave Stadium after six years with the outlet, according to multiple reports. Charania, now 30, hosted the weekly show “Inside the Association” for Stadium and regularly appeared on its daily show, “The Rally.”
Charania also starred on tentpole shows around the NBA draft and free agency. This helped the site increase viewership across social media platforms. AT&T and State Farm sponsored the content during Charania’s time at Stadium.
A rep for Charania did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Charania’s deals with The Athletic and FanDuel TV are also coming up, per Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post. It remains unclear whether he will stay at either or both as his contract negotiations continue.
Shams Charania has decided to leave Stadium after six years with the outlet, per @nypost pic.twitter.com/5LuN8nFSgN
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 19, 2024
Charania still currently works as the Senior NBA Insider for The Athletic. From 2015 through 2018, Shams was the national NBA Insider for Yahoo Sports.
Additionally, Charania began his sports-writing 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 NBA team transactions across the league. The Chicago native was raised in Wilmette, Illinois, and attended New Trier High School. He also graduated from Loyola University Chicago.
NBA insider Shams Charania made waves with FanDuel last January after posting about Scoot Henderson’s draft odds
Controversy unfolded in January 2023, when Charania’s gambling work for FanDuel alongside his work as a reporter was described by many as being a conflict of interest. His reporting shifted betting odds and revealed pertinent info to the sportsbook.
The NBA insider and FanDuel partner sent the 2023 NBA draft betting market into chaos when he swung the odds on who would be the No. 2 pick in the draft when he tweeted that the G-League Ignite’s Scoot Henderson was “gaining serious momentum at No. 2 with the Charlotte Hornets.”
Bettors then flocked to put their money behind Henderson at No. 2 after he had been a heavy underdog to go that high just moments before. Within minutes, the odds flipped, with Henderson at -900 and Alabama’s Brandon Miller at +480 to go second at one point.
Sources: Scoot Henderson is gaining serious momentum at No. 2 with the Charlotte Hornets in tonight’s NBA draft. Hornets have been torn over the last week between Henderson and Brandon Miller. Team has final meetings today to settle on decision.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 22, 2023
Miller ended up going No. 2 overall to the Hornets. The betting market had predicted this before Charania’s tweet. Henderson went No. 3 to the Portland Trail Blazers as well.
Furthermore, Charania’s impending free agency couldn’t have come at a better time, as the NBA media landscape is on the verge of a shift. Beginning in 2025, the NBA is planning to enter into new rights deals with Amazon’s Prime Video along with a return to NBC after more than 20 years away.
Both networks will be seeking to add NBA journalists and reporters to their staff in the coming months for studio programming.
