Shams Charania has established himself as a trusted and reliable source of news and information pertaining to the NBA, but it was a journey that took several years of hard work and determination. Charania worked with several publications from the time he was a sophomore in high school once he was cut from his high school basketball team.
Unlike Michael Jordan, who was famously left off his high school’s varsity basketball roster, Charania did not foresee a path for himself to make the NBA. As a result, he tried to find a way to stay involved with the game and gravitated towards writing, he explained during a recent appearance on The OGs podcast with Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller.
Charania said his initial goal was to make the NBA as a player; however, he recognizes the difficulty therein with attaining such a feat. Because of this, he worked to determine a niche to remain involved with the Association and thought about several ways to remain around the game. Rather than becoming a member of the front office or an agent, writing about transactions and other behind-the-scenes elements of the game ultimately appealed to him. The job requires both accuracy and precision, divulging correct information while also being consistent and building credibility.
“Being accurate, being 100%, nothing can come out until you feel that way, and there definitely are boxes,” Charania said. “If I’m 99% on something, it’s not going to go out. I’ve lost a ton of stories being 98% or 99%, but that is most important for sure. Obviously being first is what you strive for, but being accurate is the most important.”
Charania has been the first to report several key transactions around the NBA and currently works in multifaceted roles for The Athletic, FanDuel TV and Stadium. One of his first major newsbreaks took place in 2014 when he reported that Luol Deng had been traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, propelling his Twitter following from 700 to 7,000 users overnight. The next day, he was traveling to Milwaukee to conduct a one-on-one interview with Klay Thompson and cover the Milwaukee Bucks game against the Golden State Warriors.
“I was really on to the next, and I think that mentality helped me a lot, that ‘on to the next’ mentality,” Charania said, “so I think that was the one that gave me a great understanding of, ‘If you’re going to be in this, it’s ‘on to the next’ at all times.’”
Earlier in the interview, Charania was asked about his screen time and how he balances his reporting with the amount of rest he receives. On the first day of free agency in particular, he accumulated a total of 21 hours and 34 minutes and has previously spoken about being on his phone for 16 to 17 hours per day. Charania articulated that he would be “divorced three times over” if he were married and is thankful for his family, who has become accustomed to his leaving the table during a dinner. Although Charania slept for a couple of hours that day, he remained aware of the news cycle and would not do it if it hindered other aspects of his life.
“It’s the first day of free agency,” Charania said. “Deals can happen. Paul George’s deal happened at 2 in the morning, so that just lets you know the deals can happen at any moment.”
