For years, former ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski stood at the peak of the sports media world as the NBA’s premier insider. Wojnarowski’s breaking-news tweets revealing blockbuster trades gained their own viral fame — becoming known as “Woj Bombs” — and his around-the-clock work garnered him a $7.3 million annual contract.
Then, in September, Wojnarowski shocked the NBA sphere by announcing he was leaving all that fame and fortune behind. Instead, the 55-year-old Wojnarowski has taken on the job of general manager of the University of St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team — a job at his alma mater that pays $75,000.
In an expansive profile by Sports Illustrated’s senior writer Chris Mannix, Wojnarowski explained why he decided to step away. He said an early-stage prostate cancer diagnosis in March helped bring perspective, but he primarily left ESPN because of his personal happiness and fulfillment.
Cancer didn’t force him out, Woj insists. But it did bring some clarity. “I didn’t want to spend one more day of my life waiting on someone’s MRI or hitting an agent at 1 a.m. about an ankle sprain,” he says. In May, Woj traveled to Rogers, Ark., for a memorial for Chris Mortensen, the longtime NFL insider who died in March from throat cancer. Mortensen spent more than three decades at ESPN. When Woj arrived in Bristol in 2017, Mortensen was among the first to welcome him. Many ESPNers made the trip to Arkansas. What Woj was struck by was how many did not. “It made me remember that the job isn’t everything,” Woj says. “In the end it’s just going to be your family and close friends. And it’s also, like, nobody gives a s---. Nobody remembers [breaking stories] in the end. It’s just vapor.”
The profile also recounted how the insider job impacted Wojnarowski’s time with his family. His wife and kids wanted him to quit, and his son said as much in a phone call leading up to this past summer’s NBA Draft.
Besides, he knew what his family wanted. [His wife Amy] was ready for him to go. Years earlier, when Woj disappeared into his phone to report a big story—a DeMarcus Cousins injury, Woj recalls—she asked when she would be one. His kids, Annie and Ben, were ready, too. Just before the NBA draft, Woj called Ben. He was leaning toward quitting and wanted to get his son’s take on it. Ben was blunt. “People think your job is great,” Ben said. “I think your job f---ing sucks. Retire—and go travel with Mom.”
The article covered many more details about Wojnarowski’s ESPN departure in great depth. It also discussed Wojnarowski’s new job at St. Bonaventure, its responsibilities and how the former reporter’s NBA connections continue to serve him in his new role.
Apart from Wojnarowski’s personal journey and revelations, the article inherently rebukes, or at least brings into question, what’s valued in the current sports media landscape: The NBA’s most famous insider said the job of breaking news stories that are bound to be broken is essentially meaningless, or as he put it, vapor.
This has been a common complaint levied at sports insiders for years, but Wojnarowski waging the criticism carries more weight and pulls back the curtain even further. Maybe Wojnarowski’s criticism will turn out to be one of the steps that ultimately lead to less value being placed on sports insider coverage. Or maybe it’s a lucrative, runaway train that can’t be stopped in the digital world so long as there are reporters willing to brave the long hours.