Longtime NBA journalist Adrian Wojnarowski shockingly announced his retirement from ESPN as the outlet’s lead insider on Wednesday morning.
The man known to everyone as ‘Woj’ is stepping away to become the general manager of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball program.
The 55-year-old dropped his last Woj bomb with the news and explained how he was “no longer driven” to make the investment in his role and wanted to spend his time “in ways that are more personally meaningful.”
“Woj out”
🔸 34 NBA seasons
🔸 17 NBA drafts
🔸 47,000 tweets
🔸 1068 certified “Woj Bombs”
🔸 Most followed NBA reporter ever
🔸 305 Million tweet likes
🔸 2x Columnist of the Year
🔸 Tony Kubek Award for Media Excellence
🔸 National Polish-American HOF
🔸 New York Times… pic.twitter.com/DmSFsEAya4— Basketball Forever (@bballforever_) September 18, 2024
Fellow ESPN insider for NFL, Adam Schefter, shared some insight into just how tough the job Woj has been doing since 2007 with ESPN really is.
“He wanted his life back. He didn’t want to have to work on holidays. He didn’t want to be away from more family gatherings,” Schefter said on NBA Today.
“He didn’t want to have to, as we had to do in the past, take a shower with your phone up against the shower door so you can see a text that’s coming in, or take your phone with you to the urinal and hold it in one hand while you take care of your business in the other. That’s the life that we live. And that was the life he chose not to do any longer because it takes over your life.
“You can’t kind of do the job,” he continued. “You have to live the job and he was done living the job. He wants to go live his life and work for a school and give back to younger athletes.”
The decision to step away from his role at ESPN means that insider would be walking away from a $20 million payday, The Athletic says.
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