Exclusive: NBA Insider Shams Charania Re-Signing With The Athletic

One of the biggest free agents in basketball is re-signing with his squad.

Shams Charania, the prominent NBA insider and news breakers, confirmed to Complex Sports Monday night that he’s staying with The Athletic and has agreed to a new contract with the media outlet where his reporting has appeared since 2018.

“I’m thrilled to be staying and look forward to continue growing with a company that is still so hungry and motivated,” Charania told us.

The 26-year-old insider, who regularly breaks some of the biggest stories in basketball, had held discussions with several other media outlets, according to a source familiar with the situation. But the Chicago native, currently covering the NBA Playoffs down in Orlando, ultimately decided to stick with The Athletic.

A recent guest on the Load Management podcast and a Complex Sports profile subject in 2016 and 2018, Charania’s rise from a college kid covering Milwaukee Bucks games to being among the most dialed in insiders in all of sports media has been among the most unique in the industry’s history. In 2018 when his contract with Yahoo Sports! was up, Charania had talks with ESPN, Turner Sports, Facebook, Yahoo and NBC Sports before deciding upon The Athletic and Stadium as his next landing spot. He was expected to be a hot commodity again this summer when his contract expired on August 31 with many of the same outlets showing interest. Ultimately, he decided to stay at the San Francisco-based website where he’s their lead NBA newsbreaker and broken a ton of Association-related news since he joined.