Shams Charania, ESPN Agree to Contract After Adrian Wojnarowski's Retirement

Shams Charania has agreed to a contract with ESPN to be the company's Senior NBA Insider.

This news comes after Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports reported on Monday that Charania and ESPN were in "preliminary" contract negotiations after Adrian Wojnarowski's retirement.

Wojnarowski announced that he was leaving ESPN on Sept. 18 and agreed to become the new general manager for the basketball program at St. Bonaventure, his alma mater.

Wojnarowski walked away from $20 million to leave ESPN, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic.

Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post reported on July 16 that Charania's deals with The Athletic and FanDuel TV were up "in the next month or two." The insider also left Stadium after six years at the company on Aug. 19.

Despite the reported contract negotiations, Charania wasn't the sole option to replace Wojnarowski. Per McCarthy, ESPN had weighed asking senior NFL insider Adam Schefter to take on an "Ultimate Insider" role and cover the NBA as well. MLB insider Jeff Passan was also considered an internal candidate.

After Charania broke the news on Monday, Passan took to social media to react:

Charania has made television and radio appearances, although he's primarily known for his quick news-breaking that rivaled Wojnarowski's when he was with ESPN and Yahoo Sports.

ESPN's Pat McAfee has publicly discussed Charania potentially replacing Wojnarowski, calling him "the answer" during a Sept. 18 episode of The Pat McAfee Show.

In the end, Charania and ESPN came to terms on a deal.