High-profile NBA insider Shams Charania first shared the update about the new CBA agreement between the WNBA and WNBPA. In a recent conversation with WNBA reporter Annie Costabile, the women’s sports insider shared her thoughts on sharing duties with Charania and the NBA analyst breaking the first WNBA story on social media.
Costabile was featured in an interview on Flagrant and Funny w/ Cari Champion & Jemele Hill on YouTube, where she talked about Charania and his influence on the WNBA. She said:
“I have a funny story with Shams too, but I don’t know if this is a place to share it. So, back a couple of years ago, Teresa Witherspoon was being interviewed for the Chicago Sky job, and I obviously was still on the beat, covering the Chicago Sky and I had been like locked in on the story. I had been like every moment from the time they started interviewing her, I had the updates… When it comes to the final hour, the decision’s going to be made, I had started to get texts of like we’re going down to the wire but nothing concrete.”
Costabile added that she went away from her phone to be with her friends, and that’s when the final decision was made, and afterwards, she saw that Shams Charania had already broken the story. The WNBA analyst brought that up when she met the NBA insider in person and asked him about working with the WNBA as well. She added:
“I am like ‘you know the T-Spoon news, you broke that news like this is so great. I am so excited to have you on the WNBA beat like daily now. This is going to be so great to have your voice, like welcome to the WNBA.’… I know he’s not coming into the W full-time but the reality is he does have these sources that look at him and his reach and they value that. I don’t know how you argue with that because he’s worked so extremely hard, he obviously deserves this platform.”
Costabile went on to advise Charania that if we wanted to be part of the WNBA, he got to “dive all the way in.” She added:
“But I think it says more about the sources who are willing to go to someone with this giant platform versus people who’ve been on the ground. And the other point I would like to say this too, I have heard so many sources talking about lifting up women journalists… and then I see them to go to a guy with a bigger platform.”
Shams Charania is a high-profile NBA insider with lots of sources in the league, which will surely help more fans reach the league. However, besides Costabile, fans were also not happy to see the NBA journalist having a scoop on the WNBA.
“Why not have on the ESPN journalist?” Fans criticize Shams Charania for breaking WNBA scoops
Even though WNBA fans and players were happy with the new CBA deal, they weren’t particularly impressed with Shams Charania breaking the news live on Get UP by ESPN. A user wrote:
“why not have on the ESPN journalist that actually is covering this story?”
Although fans criticized Charania’s inclusion in the WNBA, his presence will have a larger impact on the league. The WNBA has already reached a wider audience, and the new CBA deal is proof of that.
READ MORE: What Is Pregnancy Clause in WNBA? Player Protection Rules in New CBA Explained
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