Adrian Wojnarowski (; born March 4, 1969), nicknamed Woj, is an American
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
executive and former
sports columnist
Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...
and
reporter
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
. During his years as an
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
insider for
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
and
Yahoo! Sports
Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from Stats Perform. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. ...
, he became one of the NBA's preeminent reporters. Wojnarowski is largely credited with ushering in an era of
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
-driven, breaking news-focused NBA reporting, in which top reporters are NBA celebrities in their own right. He retired from reporting in 2024 and is currently the general manager of the
St. Bonaventure Bonnies men's basketball team.
Personal life
Wojnarowski was born in
Bristol, Connecticut
Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. The ...
, on March 4, 1969. His parents were
Polish immigrants.
He graduated from
Bristol Central High School in 1987 and from
St. Bonaventure University
St. Bonaventure University is a private university, private Franciscan university in St. Bonaventure, New York. It has 2,760 undergraduate and graduate students. The Order of Friars Minor, Franciscans established the university in 1858.
In ath ...
in
Allegany, New York
Allegany is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 7,493 at the 2020 census.
The Town of Allegany is on the south border of the county, west of the City of Olean. There is a village named Allegany inside ...
, in 1991.
He was named St. Bonaventure's alumnus of the year in 2019,
and received an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
from the university in 2022.
Wojnarowski currently lives in
Glen Rock, New Jersey
Glen Rock is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 12,133, an increase of 532 (+4.6%) from the 2010 United ...
with his wife, Amy, and their two children, Ben and Annie. He met Amy, who graduated from St. Bonaventure in 1992, through the college newspaper.
In December 2024, Wojnarowski revealed that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March of the same year.
Journalism career
Wojnarowski began his career working for the ''
Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is advertised as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven and ...
'' starting as a high school senior and continuing during college holidays. During his time in college, he interned at the ''
Olean Times Herald
The ''Olean Times Herald'' is a daily newspaper serving the western Twin Tiers region, based in Olean, New York, United States. The afternoon newspaper, one of the few remaining afternoon papers in the nation, is published by Bradford Publishin ...
'' in 1989, where the sports department put him to use writing highly critical pieces of St. Bonaventure's basketball team. After graduating from college, he wrote for some smaller papers before becoming a columnist for the ''
Fresno Bee
''The Fresno Bee'' is a three-times a week newspaper serving Fresno, California, and surrounding counties in that U.S. state's central San Joaquin Valley. It is owned by The McClatchy Company and ranks fourth in circulation among the company's ...
'' in 1995.
In 1997, he began to work for ''
The Record
The Record may refer to:
Music
* The Record (Fear album), ''The Record'' (Fear album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear
* The Record (Boygenius album), ''The Record'' (Boygenius album), a 2023 studio album by the indie rock supe ...
'' in New Jersey. As a result of his work with ''The Record'', he was named "Columnist of the Year" in 1997 and in 2002 by the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
Sports Editors. During that time, he also contributed regularly to ESPN.com. In 2006, he published a
''New York Times'' best-seller: ''The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty.''
On June 20, 2019, Wojnarowski was awarded the inaugural
Tony Kubek
Anthony Christopher Kubek (born October 12, 1935) is an American former professional baseball player and television sportscaster, broadcaster. During his nine-year playing career with the New York Yankees, Kubek played in six World Series in the ...
Award for Media Excellence by the
National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in Michigan.
Yahoo! Sports
In 2007, Wojnarowski left ''The Record'' and joined Yahoo! Sports full-time. In March 2009, he and
Dan Wetzel wrote a story tying the
Connecticut Huskies men's basketball program to several recruiting violations.
In 2010 the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative
daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'' reported that Wojnarowski was being sued by the
Penguin Group
Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media company, media Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a Mergers and acquisitions, mer ...
for failing to meet a deadline for a book covering the life of coach
Jim Valvano
James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, culminating at NC State. Whi ...
. Wojnarowski responded that the problem was "a miscommunication between my agent and me" and said that he would be returning the money to Penguin Books.
Over time, Wojnarowski shifted his emphasis from opinions columns
to breaking news.
He was widely considered one of the best NBA "scoopers"
—that is, he was frequently the first to report NBA signings, trades, and draft picks, which gave him a large advantage in the fast-moving social media space where "algorithms often prioritize being first, ... gain
nghim tens of thousands of extra clicks." He was so well-connected that on at least one occasion, a team executive said that his staff learned of a new signing from Wojnarowski before he had even announced it to the team.
His speed made him an Internet celebrity, and his scoops were referred to as "Woj Bombs"; his Twitter followers would sometimes respond to his breaking news tweets with "nuclear explosion" gifs for comedic effect. Wojnarowski flexed his reporting muscle by repeatedly reporting
NBA draft
The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...
picks before the league announced them on its annual live telecast,
which he continued to do (in a more comedic form) after joining NBA broadcasting partner ESPN.
However, Wojnarowski was accused of
access journalism
Access journalism, or access reporting, refers to journalism (often in interview form) which prioritizes access—meaning media time with important, rich, famous, powerful, or otherwise influential people in politics, culture, sports, and other a ...
, providing favorable coverage to sources like
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...
general manager
Joe Dumars
Joe Dumars III ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American professional basketball executive and former player who is the head of basketball operations for the New Orleans Pelicans. He could play either shooting guard or point guard on offense and was ...
in exchange for scoops.
He reportedly attempted to pressure
LeBron James
LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...
to leak news to him by writing negative columns;
his reporting on James received some criticism for being biased and poorly sourced. He was listed No. 1 in Sports Media Watch's ''Worst of Sports Media 2010'' as a result of this criticism.
Despite being from Bristol, Connecticut, where
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
is headquartered, and working for ESPN during his early career, Wojnarowski developed a strong rivalry with ESPN and many of its established NBA reporters, including
Marc Stein and
John Hollinger. Wojnarowski, who ran a lean operation at Yahoo!, reportedly resented ESPN's large staff and ample resources.
Ric Bucher said that Wojnarowski had "a jihad against ESPN."
ESPN laid off several NBA reporters, including Stein, shortly before Wojnarowski joined ESPN in 2017. One of the laid-off reporters, Ethan Strauss, started a
Substack
Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription-based content, including newsletters, podcasts, and video. It allows writers to send digital content directl ...
account that periodically published pieces highly critical of Wojnarowski.
ESPN
Wojnarowski left Yahoo! Sports for
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
on July 1, 2017, just before the start of NBA free agency that year, making his ESPN debut on the midnight edition of ''
SportsCenter
''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...
''. ESPN president
John Skipper boasted that he hired Wojnarowski because "We wanted to be first
n breaking news and we wanted to win."
During his years at ESPN, Wojnarowski mentored upcoming reporter
Malika Andrews
Malika Rose Andrews McMenamin (born January 27, 1995) is an American sports journalist and reporter. She is the host of ''NBA Today'', which replaced ''The Jump (ESPN talk show), The Jump''. She joined ESPN in October 2018 as an online NBA writ ...
.
While at ESPN, Wojnarowski continued to break news at a rapid rate. He won three consecutive National Sportswriter of the Year awards from the
National Sports Media Association
The National Sports Media Association (NSMA), formerly the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, is an organization of sports journalism, sports media members in the United States, and constitutes the American chapter of the Inte ...
, in 2017, 2018, and 2019. He was the first to announce that the NBA had suspended the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was such a celebrity that during the
2024 presidential election campaign,
Kamala Harris
Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...
' staff reportedly asked him to break the news of
Tim Walz
Timothy James Walz (; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician who has served since 2019 as the 41st governor of Minnesota. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States, vice pre ...
's selection as Harris' running mate, although another outlet broke the news first.
In addition, Wojnarowski and his ESPN colleague
Adam Schefter participated in commercials for
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...
and
Samsung
Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...
.
Wojnarowski announced his retirement from the news industry in September 2024
after being diagnosed with early-stage
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
that March, although he stressed that as of December 2024, his long-term prognosis remained good.
Shams Charania succeeded him at ESPN. Following his retirement, the
Basketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...
awarded Wojnarowski its
Curt Gowdy Media Award.
Rivalry with Shams Charania
During his time at Yahoo! Sports, Wojnarowski mentored a young
Shams Charania, who later became Wojnarowski's chief rival for scoops after Wojnarowski left Yahoo! for ESPN.
Reeves Wiedeman wrote that "Charania and Wojnarowski have become celebrities in their own right [] by serving as vessels for the daily stream of news that holds NBA fans' attention even (and perhaps especially) when there aren't any games being played."
Frank Isola (sportswriter), Frank Isola said that the Woj-Shams rivalry was "the only real rivalry left in the NBA."
However, the rivalry's focus on breaking news received criticism from some other reporters, including
Isaac Chotiner, who quipped that "If Shams didn’t write
avorable stories toget in good with his sources, he couldn't do the vital work of breaking news 43 seconds before everyone else." (This was not an exaggeration: in 2021, Wojnarowski beat Charania to a key scoop,
James Harden
James Edward Harden Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is regarded by some as one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA hist ...
's trade to the
Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), ...
, by eight seconds.)
Beyond merely reporting news, Wojnarowski and Charania's knowledge allowed them to help shape events in the NBA. According to Wiedeman, "Wojnarowski has a grip on many of the NBA's front offices, while Charania has more of a foothold among agents and even many players."
Certain agents said that Wojnarowski's knowledge of the NBA was so vast that agents and teams privately consulted with him before making decisions.
In addition, the ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' reported that NBA front offices revised their information-sharing practices to limit leaks to Wojnarowski and Charania.
However, it was also said that NBA executives strategically leaked information to Wojnarowski and Charania to skirt the league's anti-tampering rules,
which prevent teams from recruiting other teams' players before the start of
free agency.
Feud with the Los Angeles Lakers
Although Wojnarowski maintained a good relationship with
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
star
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, spent his entire 20-year career with t ...
and his circle, his long-running feud with LeBron James spilled over into his relationship with the Lakers after Bryant retired in 2016 and James joined the Lakers in 2018. Wojnarowski correctly reported that
Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Anthony Leonard ( ; born June 29, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A two-time NBA champion, he is a six-time NBA All-Star, All-Star and a six- ...
would not sign with the Lakers in 2019, which was seen as a victory over the Lakers, who distrusted Wojnarowski's reporting and thus delayed signing role players for five days while waiting for Leonard to make a decision, allowing other teams to sign the best role players instead. However, the roles were reversed when the Lakers traded for
Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook III (born November 12, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A point guard, Westbrook made his NBA debut in 2008 and became a star as a member o ...
in 2021. Wojnarowski incorrectly reported that the Lakers were planning to trade for
Buddy Hield, only for Charania to upstage him by correctly reporting the Westbrook trade 16 minutes later.
In 2023, Awful Announcing reported that Wojnarowski had patched up the feud, at least with respect to James' agent and close friend
Rich Paul
Richard Paul (born December 16, 1980) is an American sports agent and the founder and chief executive officer of Klutch Sports Group. His most notable client is basketball player LeBron James, with whom he has been a longtime friend. Paul is al ...
. In addition, in 2024, Wojnarowski and Charania clashed over conflicting reports that the Lakers were trying to hire either
Dan Hurley or
JJ Redick as their head coach, with Wojnarowski backing Hurley and Charania backing Redick. Awful Announcing reported that Wojnarowski boosted Hurley's candidacy both to help Hurley, his family friend, leverage a larger contract extension out of the
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...
and to help the Lakers leverage more favorable terms when signing Redick. However, Hurley denied the accusation.
Josh Hawley incident
On July 10, 2020, Republican Senator
Josh Hawley
Joshua David Hawley (born December 31, 1979) is an American politician and attorney serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Missouri, a seat he has held since 2019. A member ...
wrote a letter to NBA commissioner
Adam Silver
Adam Silver (born April 25, 1962) is an American lawyer and sports executive who is serving as the fifth and current commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He joined the NBA in 1992 and has held various positions within the ...
questioning the propriety of the NBA allowing social justice statements on players' jerseys, but not support for law enforcement or anything critical of the
Chinese Communist Party
The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
.
The NBA has business connections with China.
Wojnarowski, copied on the Hawley communication, replied to Hawley via email saying "fuck you". Wojnarowski apologized the same day to Hawley and
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
; ESPN called Wojnarowski's response "completely unacceptable behavior" and suspended Wojnarowski without pay
for two weeks. Wojnarowski's outburst impressed even his critics, such as LeBron James, who tweeted "#FreeWOJ!!" following the suspension.
Basketball executive career
On September 19, 2024, Wojnarowski announced that he would become the general manager of the men's basketball team at
St. Bonaventure University
St. Bonaventure University is a private university, private Franciscan university in St. Bonaventure, New York. It has 2,760 undergraduate and graduate students. The Order of Friars Minor, Franciscans established the university in 1858.
In ath ...
, his alma mater.
In doing so, he exchanged the remaining three years and $20 million on his ESPN contract for a $75,000 salary.
In an interview with ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', Wojnarowski argued that fielding a competitive basketball team was critical to the long-term success of the university as an academic institution, explaining that "without Bonaventure being competitive in the
Atlantic 10 onference... it puts the entire institution at some level of peril."
Publications
*
See also
*
Shams–Woj rivalry
References
External links
*
Bio at ESPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wojnarowski, Adrian
1969 births
Living people
American people of Polish descent
American sports podcasters
ESPN people
St. Bonaventure University alumni
Sportswriters from Connecticut
Yahoo! employees
People from Bristol, Connecticut
People from Glen Rock, New Jersey
College basketball general managers
Writers from Bergen County, New Jersey
Bristol Central High School alumni