Spoiler Shams appears to have lost his fastball this year.
ESPN reporter Shams Charania surprised many fans during the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday. Charania had become infamous in past years for spoiling picks in the NBA Draft by posting about them online before the selections were actually announced.
This year though, Charania was curiously silent to kick off draft night. Cooper Flagg went No. 1 to the Dallas Mavericks, and then Dylan Harper went No. 2 to the San Antonio Spurs … both without a peep from Charania.
Many fans (and even the Atlanta Hawks’ official team page) commented about the lack of spoilers from Charania.
No Shams spoilers this year pic.twitter.com/Py3PG8UD6x
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) June 26, 2025
sources: they’ve got shams locked in a basement with no wifi in the espn offices
— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) June 26, 2025
Shams ain't even tweet out the pick we might be in for a busy day
— Kofie (@Kofie) June 26, 2025
Adam Silver made the call to shams about spoiling picks pic.twitter.com/xQutQPuRIy
— subscribe to the state of the league patreon (@JoestarJokic) June 26, 2025
Charania did eventually resurface by posting about pick Nos. 3-5 in the draft. But he only posted about those picks a few moments before they were announced (rather than several minutes beforehand like he used to). Charania also then went radio-silent again for pick Nos. 6-8, all of which were announced by commissioner Adam Silver before Charania could post about them.
The 31-year-old Charania used to work for ESPN rivals in Yahoo! Sports and The Athletic. However, he joined ESPN in Oct. 2024 as the effective replacement for his former mentor Adrian Wojnarowski, who decided to retire from sports reporting.
As such, it does not really make sense any more for Charania to spoil NBA Draft coverage, which is provided by his now employer. That served as welcome news for a lot of fans, especially since Charania has been criticized in the past over his handling of NBA Draft coverage.