Shams Charania’s debut as part of ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage last week doubled as a herculean exercise in restraint. In past years, he famously used X (formerly known as Twitter) to reveal team draft picks before league commissioner Adam Silver could announce them, leaving fans — and, undoubtedly his current employer, ESPN — at least a little peeved at his acts of spoilery. As unnatural as it was, for the 2025 NBA Draft, he abstained from the tradition.
“It’s really just trying to be a great teammate,” he tells Rolling Stone by Zoom on an overcast Saturday morning. “I caught myself [about to post those tweets] at least five to 10 times,” he adds. “But that’s just human nature.”
Shams’ act of discipline is just the latest in a career-long series of them. Armed with good people skills, chill tenacity, and an iPhone that might as well be sewn into his palm, the 31-year-old sports journalist has been one of the NBA’s top news-breakers for nearly a decade — a well-honed reporting cyborg who sets phone timers to keep himself on track and on top. After his mentor turned rival Adrian Wojnarowski stepped down from his role as ESPN’s Senior NBA Insider last year, Shams left The Athletic and Stadium to jump into the role and essentially became the Nikola Jokic of scoops. The job gets particularly taxing during NBA free agency, and requires logging a lot of miles and a lot of flights.
“My mom and sister are always on me to drink water,” he says. “I’m always getting those ‘Are you drinking water?’ texts. There’s a lot of coffee, too.”
Ahead of his Monday and Tuesday appearances on ESPN’s NBA free agency show, Shams talks draft night surprises, team-building plans, Cooper Flagg, travel habits, and more.
What was the pick in this draft that got you the most “What the fuck?” texts from league execs?Yang Hansen going to the Portland Trail Blazers at 16 was definitely a surprise for everyone. But that’s clearly someone that Portland really sees a lot in. As far as a move that happened on draft night that everyone had a, “Wow, that’s interesting,” “Remarkable,” “Crazy” reaction [to] was when Atlanta moved their 13th overall pick to New Orleans for [No.] 23 in a future first round draft pick, unprotected the best and most favorable of Milwaukee or New Orleans. We don’t know what to expect from those organizations going into next season. Could one falter? Could that become a lottery pick? I was talking to some GMs around the league, [and they think] that pick might have a chance of being the No. 1 or top five pick next year. So, Atlanta moving back 10 slots [and] to get that pick could end up being a coup. But from the other perspective, New Orleans picked Derik Queen 13th with that pick. Clearly they believe he’s going to be a player. Clearly they’re high on him, so time will tell. If he develops into this All-NBA or all-star-caliber player, then they obviously will get exactly what they were paying for.
After facing backlash for trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison is pretty happy about drafting Cooper Flagg. He just told the media that fans will finally be able to “see the vision.” What’s your take on that vision and the Mavs in 2024-2025?
The vision will be seen once Kyrie Irving is healthy again. It’s a pretty stacked roster, especially in the front line. They have arguably the best front court in the NBA with Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, and P.J. Washington.
On that note, we know what Jason Kidd and the Mavericks think of Flagg, but what do people around the league expect from him this year?
Instant impact. Someone who’s focused, determined, and has a great head on his shoulders. Smart, a great teammate. Those are all the things that I hear from people [who] have scouted and done research on Cooper Flagg. And I think his fit is going to be seamless [with] that organization even though it’s a veteran-laden team, because of how selfless he is and how he just wants to impact winning. That’s going to be the biggest trait that he’ll bring to the Mavericks. Going into the draft process, the player that I heard a little bit that he reminds folks around the league of is Anthony Davis. When you think about someone who’s coming to the league so polished, so impactful on both ends of the floor, you think of someone like Anthony Davis. You know exactly what he’s going to give you right off the bat.
With the NBA’s relatively new apron salary structure (that is, hard spending limits that, if crossed, can result in penalties and roster-building restrictions), it feels like the days of a “Big 3” — or rather, NBA contenders that are heavy on All-NBA talent, light on depth — are over. How has this impacted the way NBA teams approach the draft and NBA free agency?
It’s made finding two-way competitive, high-character, lengthy players all the more important. And doing it in ways of the draft and smart and diligent trades, because the days of necessarily stacking your roster with high-priced maximum contract salaries in this second apron, which is essentially a hard cap, are behind us in a lot of ways. And there are teams for sure, whether it’s Boston, Oklahoma City here coming up, potentially that will have to pay exorbitant amounts of money to keep their team together. And you can do it for a year, two years, maybe three years. But the second apron makes team-building so difficult and limits you. So I think putting a premium on that, what I mentioned earlier, the two-way, high-character, competitive players makes it even more important.
The other side of that coin is the injuries. Between Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, and finally, Tyrese Haliburton, three NBA teams saw their championships ended by an achilles injury. What have you heard around the league about how teams can work to prevent those injuries?
I know Adam Silver said that they’re doing a lot of research on the achilles injuries. We had seven this season, and that’s a high number compared to past years. The NBA’s very thorough when it comes to research or investigations or anything where they have to dig, whether it’s their scientists or lawyers or strategy folks. And so I’m curious what the outcome of that is. Maybe we’ll get more clarity over the summer. Some of these have to do with players that have had calf injuries and whether it’s on the same leg, the other leg overcompensating can be a factor. The Tyrese Haliburton case, same right leg, he did have a calf strain on, and so there’s a very natural correlation there. But until full research is done by a panel of doctors, it’s hard to pinpoint just one thing.
With Tatum out, it’s hard to imagine the Celtics competing for a championship next year, and they’ve just traded Jrue Holiday, and they are fielding other offers. With that in mind, what do you think are the Celtics’ expectations for next year?
My feeling is that the Celtics look at next year as kind of a gap year; retooling a year to stay competitive to an extent. But without Jayson Tatum healthy, the odds [against them] winning a championship are insurmountable. I think there is a quiet understanding there. But listen, it’s the Boston Celtics; Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzulla. They’re never just going to lay down. We’ll see what other moves they make, whether it’s Sam Hauser or Anfernee Simons that gets moved. They’re getting tons of calls on Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, [but] still prefer not to move them. But if someone blows them out of the water, they will have to consider. And so we’ll see how Brad Stevens and that organization approaches this.
You have to be on the road a lot during this time of year. What are the must-haves when you’re packing your suitcase?
Definitely my AirPods, my toiletry bag, which has everything in it. My laptop. Probably those three things. As long as I have those three things, I can travel anywhere and do anything. I might not have different outfits every day, but those are the things that’ll keep me pretty grounded.
Can you remember a time when you had to leave suddenly and you didn’t have time to pack your clothes?
One time I landed in L.A. and we had an NBA Countdown show three or four hours later, but I had totally forgotten my ties. And so right before heading to the studio, I had to stop by Ross Dress for Less to pick up a tie and a pocket square, and it worked out amazingly. So there’s always those moments, but for the most part, I do try to stay as prepared as possible and pay a lot of attention to what I’m packing and not packing.
Before something like Draft Night or NBA free agency, what music do you listen to in order to get into the zone?
My music is always random, but if I’m locking in, I think about the past a lot. Music can always tie you to moments in your life. I can listen to a song and know exactly what time period it was. I know exactly what I was doing. I know exactly what was going on in the surroundings of my life. There’s definitely a few albums that I listened to on repeat. Scorpion from Drake; I just remember that off- season so vividly. I could just listen to “Mob Ties,” “Survival,” and “Emotionless” over and over. But I have a big palate. I’ll listen to Justin Timberlake and I’ll listen to Justin Bieber, I’ll listen to Future and Pop Smoke. I also think I listen to some songs that are calm and have a little spirit and romance to them. I’m flexible.
Obviously, you’ve made a big transition moving over to take Woj’s place as ESPN’s Senior NBA Insider. People always made a lot of the whole “mentor turned rival” dynamic between you. Now that he’s left NBA journalism and that rivalry has essentially stopped, has it been easier for you two to talk to each other?
We have definitely communicated. At the end of the day, a lot of me I owe to him. We worked together for two-plus years and he gave me an unbelievable opportunity at [Yahoo’s] The Vertical. We had such an amazing team there that I think about every single day. I did the draft show with [former Vertical team] members Jonathan Givony and Bobby Marks a couple days ago. All three of us were hired at The Vertical. And to me, it’s a special thing we share together. The competition is the competition, [but] once you take a step back on a human level, the relationships and the moments and the memories always supersede anything.
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