ESPN’s Shams Charania is one of the best insiders in basketball. Unfortunately for him, his jump shot still needs some work.
With just under three minutes remaining in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, Charania had an opportunity to sink a deep ball from the left wing to secure a comfortable lead for his team, which was coached by Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. Charania air-balled the shot attempt in the clutch.
Luckily for Charania, Team Giannis still ultimately escaped with a 65-58 win. Only moments after Charania air-balled his attempt from downtown, former NBA guard Jeremy Lin sunk an attempt from beyond the arc, which resulted in eight points due to the Celebrity Game’s unusual rules.
Antetokounmpo wasn’t about to complain. The 10-time All-Star celebrated on the sidelines with his brothers, who served as his assistant coaches.
While Antetokounmpo encouraged his team throughout the night, he was far from optimistic about Charania’s performance. Ahead of the game, Antetokounmpo roasted the NBA insider.
“You know why it’s not fair? Because, we have Shams on our team,” the two-time NBA MVP said of Charania. “He cannot hoop, but everybody else can hoop.”
The Celebrity Game may not have had Shams Charania’s undivided attention. Charania was spotted on his phone during the game, undoubtedly checking his messages for the latest NBA scoop. In fairness, Charania has to maintain his reputations as the NBA’s No. 1 news breaker.
Charania joined ESPN in 2024, replacing longtime NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, otherwise known as Woj. Wojnarowski left ESPN to become the general manager of the St. Bonaventure Men’s Basketball program.
Shams Charania may need to work on his 3-point shooting if he wants to eventually land with a college basketball program, as well. Jokes aside, Charania admitted he was nervous about playing ahead of the Celebrity Game.
“Definitely a lot of pressure. Definitely been hearing it a lot,” Charania said. “People been hitting me up, telling me they expect this out of me or that out of me. I’m just gonna play my game though. Play to win, that’s the biggest key to the game.
“We have Jeremy Lin on this team. We have Tacko Fall on this team. We have a stacked roster. I’m very optimistic about our chances.”
Evidently, Charania’s confidence in his team was well-founded. Though the game’s MVP was neither Lin nor Fall, but instead Rome Flynn, an actor, model and musician. Flynn tallied 17 points on 6-12 shooting in the victory.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.on3.com ’
