Last summer we told you the story of Shams Charania, the 22-year-old scoopmaster who was the Giannis Antetokounmpo of NBA journalism—the future of the game. Charania is a part of the most prolific NBA news-breaking force, Yahoo’s The Vertical, a team that’s led by Adrian Wojnarowski, one of the most plugged-in reporters in sports.
The Vertical beat ESPN’s television coverage to every draft pick last year and, behind Woj and Charania, also beat ESPN to most major free-agent scoops. Yahoo’s niche hoops outlet, dramatically outsized by ESPN, was dominating its competition.
Today, there’s speculation that The Vertical and ESPN may be joining forces, as ESPN—fresh off a huge round of layoffs—seems poised to acquire Wojnarowski and his team.
The cause of the increasing speculation: veteran ESPN NBA reporter Marc Stein, perhaps the network's best basketball news-breaker, was among the layoffs.
There have been rumors for months that Woj was considering joining the Worldwide Leader. As Deadspin reported in February, “[In 2015] Wojnarowski and Yahoo signed a four-year contract worth over $6 million. According to a source, Wojnarowski’s exit from Yahoo is complicated, and will likely take months to fully sort out. It isn’t clear if the contract has an escape clause, or if ESPN or Wojnarowski is paying Yahoo a buyout, or something else.”
While this gets sorted out—and we should point out it's all rumor at this point—Woj is busy doing what he’s known for: breaking news. He broke the news earlier today that Larry Bird is stepping down as the Pacers’ president.
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