Category: Adrian Wojnarowski

Woj Vs. Shams Becomes Fascinating Subplot of Lakers Coaching Search
6 Jun 24 Jimm Sallivan

Woj Vs. Shams Becomes Fascinating Subplot of Lakers Coaching Search

1. The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports. The news of who will get their head-coaching job is big. It’s important. It’s significant.

For sports media nerds like myself, though, the subplot to the Lakers' coaching job is much more fascinating. And that subplot is the battle between ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

There isn’t a reporter vs. reporter duel that gets more attention from sports fans than Woj vs. Shams.

The Woj vs. Shams grudge match came to the forefront early Thursday morning when Wojnarowski broke the news that the Lakers are targeting UConn’s Danny Hurley as their next head coach.

Just two days ago, Shams reported that the Lakers were closing in on JJ Redick as the top candidate.

Now, at the end of the day, who breaks the news is hardly that important. There’s no shame in Shams getting this one wrong. Sometimes sources aren’t accurate or a team changes its mind. Basically, s--- happens.

What made this particular Woj vs. Shams incident stand out is that ESPN’s biggest gun, Adam Schefter, even weighed in to send a message, whether it was intended or not.

Again, whether intended or not, that sentence about Hurley being at the forefront of the search from the beginning is a direct shot at Shams.

Like I said, who ultimately breaks the news of the Lakers' next coach isn’t going to change anything. But Woj coming in to throw a bomb all over Shams's earlier report makes for very entertaining tweets and memes.

2. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped this morning and it features an interview with The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, who shares information and gives updates on the biggest news in sports media.

Topics covered include the latest developments with the NBA's future TV deals with ESPN, NBC and Amazon and where things stand with Warner Bros. Discovery/TNT. Marchand also reveals what he thinks NBC's plan is for a lead broadcast team, what will happen with the Inside the NBA crew of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal, whether Barkley could end up at ESPN and why the relationship between TNT and the NBA deteriorated.

Marchand also discusses the Pat McAfee–Caitlin Clark controversy, the media's coverage of Clark and the WNBA and Tom Brady's future at Fox.

Following Marchand, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for our weekly "Traina Thoughts" segment. This week's topics include new sports TV shows that are on the radar and the Yankees' dominance. Plus, we read the latest Apple reviews for SI Media With Jimmy Traina.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

3. In Tuesday’s Traina Thoughts, I wrote about the ridiculous notion by some people that you need to know about the WNBA’s history in order to opine on the WNBA.

Just as nonsensical as that take is this take.

Nope. You absolutely do not have to watch non–Caitlin Clark WNBA games if you do not want to. No sports fan or talking head has to watch anything they are not interested in. You are not required to have a “deeper sense of the league” to opine on general topics in any sport.

4. Pat McAfee WAS a punter, so it’s not totally shocking he’d have a good leg, but this was a hell of a pass.

As for J.J. Watt’s soccer prowess, well….

5. If you missed the news last week, it was announced that ESPN sold two college football playoff games to TNT. College football released its postseason schedule on Wednesday and now we know why ESPN would pass up on airing a pair of playoff games.

On Saturday, Dec. 21, TNT will air two first-round playoff games at noon and 4 p.m. ET.

It just so happens that two NFL games will take place at the same time.

Texans at Chiefs will air at 1 p.m. ET on NBC while the Steelers visit the Ravens at 4:30 p.m. on Fox.

6. Chris “Mad Dog” Russo’s enjoyment of gummies is not new, but he has now brought a new phrase into our lives with “G squared.”

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: The longtime ABC news program, 20/20, debuted on this date in 1978. This seems like the perfect reason to post this clip that every old-school wrestling fan knows well.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN, Lakers, Media, Shams Charania
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Lakers' Quest to Find a New Coach Is Becoming Quite a Thrill Ride
6 Jun 24 Jimm Sallivan

Lakers’ Quest to Find a New Coach Is Becoming Quite a Thrill Ride

The Los Angeles Lakers are going to eventually pick a head coach to lead them into next season and when that happens, it won't really matter who breaks the news three minutes before the rest of the world has it. But being cynical isn't as fun as keeping score in the Adrian Wojnarowski-Shams Charania parlor game, which has an interesting new chapter based on some at-odds reporting on L.A.'s search.

Less than 48 hours ago, The Athletic's Charania shoveled some more fuel into the JJ Redick hot-stove by establishing the player-turned-podcaster-slash-broadcaster as the leader in the clubhouse.

The Los Angeles Lakers are zeroing in on JJ Redick as the front-runner to be the franchise’s next head coach, league and media industry sources told The Athletic.

No final decision has been made yet, and the Lakers still have steps remaining in their head-coaching search process, league sources said. But the indications are strong that Redick is their leading choice at this stage.

Redick, promoting the NBA Finals on ESPN/ABC and in the middle of a Golic sandwich, quickly added some intrigue by saying that Shams would "be addressed once the season is over."

Then, as most people were still sleeping on Thursday, ESPN's Wojnarowski reached back with an old-timey windup and fired off the bombshell news that the Lakers are targeting UConn's Dan Hurley and putting together a massive offer.

The Lakers have had preliminary contact with Hurley and the sides are planning to escalate discussions in the coming days, sources told ESPN. Hurley has been at the forefront of the Lakers' search from the beginning of the process, even while the organization has done its due diligence interviewing several other candidates, sources said.

So one can see the problem. Redick and Hurley can't both coach the Lakers unless one of them wants to leave a great gig to become an assistant.

At times like these it's important to parse the language and point out that we're all in this situation because step-by-step reporting of each and every twist and turn of the process has been turned into an opportunity for news. In the not-so-distant past a consumer would only hear about a team selecting a new coach when that coach had been selected. It was less entertaining but that world didn't require a dictionary and thesaurus to divine meaning from the verbs included in every stage.

And that's not a slight. Woj and Shams are at the top of the field. But there's a real chance neither Redick nor Hurley coaches the Lakers next year, despite all the "zeroing in" and "targeting." In the court of public opinion, fair or otherwise, Shams is the Redick guy now and Woj is the Hurley guy. No one is going to do the work of parsing all the semantics and journalism to give either an out if life happens and talks don't go well or offers aren't accepted or matched.

Until there's a final decision the winner in these types of situations tends to be the person with the most recent information, which would be Wojanarowski. There's certainly something to be said about waking up in the morning to a legitimately shocking chyron on the screen and considering an event horizon that would profoundly impact both pro and college basketball.

It's nice to be reminded every so often that the Woj-Shams sideshow can be a lot of fun once a person gets out of the weeds and learns to embrace the bombs.

Adrian Wojnarowski, Dan Hurley, JJ Redick, Los Angeles Lakers, Shams Charania
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