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ESPN and TNT have warred with one another for much of the past year. The sports broadcasting titans were caught in a collision course of sorts after the NBA opted against renewing its media deal with the Ted Turner-founded channel, placing its flagship hoops program, "Inside the NBA" in limbo.
In the end, the two networks reached an agreement. ESPN will add "Inside the NBA" into its coverage in 2025-26, while TNT Sports will continue producing the program in the years to come.
Nevertheless, tension remains between the two entities. On Wednesday, the feud was rekindled. The man at the center of the carnage: none other than ESPN insider Shams Charania.
Charania revealed that Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander captured his long-awaited MVP award. Such an announcement wasn't all that surprising; Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City to a league-best 68-14 record while becoming the first player to average 30 points, 50 percent shooting, five rebounds, five assists, 1.5 steals, and 1 block per game since Michael Jordan in 1987-88.
Breaking: Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won the NBA MVP award, sources tell ESPN.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 21, 2025📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
There was just one problem with Charania's reveal; "Inside the NBA" was supposed to air live coverage of the announcement ahead of the Knicks and Pacers' Game 1 clash on Wednesday night.
Charania seemingly railroaded TNT — and, by proxy, his future ESPN colleagues — in an effort to yield engagement. Social media, particularly X, the website formerly known as Twitter, was ablaze with confusion and outright condemnation for the veteran reporter's move.
Here's what you need to know.
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Shams’ reputation doesn’t benefit from scooping the MVP announcement from the league/TNT
Nobody in the world benefits from knowing three hours earlier
Biblical levels of greed at the cost of the fan experience and the league’s marketing
What??!!!! Did shams got hacked no way this is true??!! https://t.co/XLMkdD9WJH
— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) May 21, 2025NBA waited so long that Shams leaked the MVP pic.twitter.com/RiXXqw7qdb
— ً (@JahGoated) May 21, 2025Call me lame, but I find it very annoying that Shams announced SGA won the MVP award four hours before everyone would’ve tuned into TNT to hear their crew announce who won.
— MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) May 21, 2025so the league waited until the conference finals to announce the MVP just for Shams to leak the shit hours before it would've been officially announced? like do yall do this goofy shit on purpose??? https://t.co/sz7TqWwSwU
— folks goofy ass (@ssj4maurlce) May 21, 2025Shams is actually mad weird for this btw https://t.co/d4gTsW6IIS
— 🌨️ (@NotLikeRuss) May 21, 2025SHAMS SNATCHED TNTS CHAIN😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ks6RXTk6A9 https://t.co/R6sJY4i6fL
— Kenny (@Kennyduhballern) May 21, 2025They shit the bed big time with this award this year lol they waited hella long just for shams to tweet a couple hours before the TNT broadcast https://t.co/F7QqP2frmH
— 🌔 (@thundercudi) May 21, 2025
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