ESPN lost a major hitter when Adrian Wojnarowski announced his retirement. With the 55-year-old dropping the final Woj bomb of his reporting career to become the GM of St. Bonaventure’s men’s basketball team, ESPN would certainly be scouting for a replacement. Many felt that they would chase his 30-year-old former protégé at Yahoo Sports, Shams Charania, or 42-year-old former ESPNer Haynes (currently working with TNT), who apparently left the said network for Yahoo Sports in 2018 because he felt he wasn’t treated as an equal to Woj. Or maybe not.

According to Front Office Sports, ESPN could use Woj’s retirement to uplift some in-house talents. The most likely successor? Brian Windhorst, who sources said “he’s been held back by Woj’s outsized presence” until this point. The insider—who currently operates the Hoop Collective podcast, has covered LeBron James since high school, and has served as a senior writer with ESPN for a while—is understood as being “criminally underrated,” by one source. Furthermore, he manages to supersede Wojnarowski in an area that a source believes was his “Achilles heel.”

Often referred as the “LeBron whisperer,” he happens to be much better on television. With Bronny James set to debut alongside his father, with high chances that the Lakers would prefer to get that highly-anticipated moment out of their way as early as their regular-season opener on Oct 22 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Apart from leading a podcast, Windy has also made several appearances on ESPN shows such as NBA Today and First Take. But considering how he would lean more into frequent news-breaking, change the narrative around the league with massive trade news or free-agent signings, and far less into analysis, unlike Windhorst, Woj’s television appearances were curtailed, as he had a far supreme presence online.

But who all might pace the development toward the favorite to ascend to Woj’s place?

The answer could be Pat McAfee, who is influential enough to not let his views fall on deaf ears especially when it comes to President of content Burke Magnus, Chairman Jimmy Pitaro, and Disney boss Bob Iger. Let’s not forget the internal feud from January when Pat decided took the beef against ESPN executive Norby Williamson to public, accusing Norby, who is known to hold a reputation as the “most-feared corporate infighter,” of sabotaging his show and even called “a rat.” Pat certainly came out the winner there with Norby out of Bristol after spending four decades there! So, who is PcAfee rooting for?

The former 37-year-old NFL punter, appeared on his show on Wednesday to lobby for his colleague/friend: “The universe just pieced this thing together seemingly: Shams Charania. Sham Charania’s the answer.

“I know there’s conversations happening. People are going to say that this is obviously who we are going to say. But if you take our bias out of this conversation, there’s only one answer. It’s Shams Charania.”

Windy isn’t the only candidate, though. His podcast partner Tim Bontemps and good friend Zach Lowe’s name have also been thrown in the mix. As the media giant, ESPN will look to replace their A-Lister with another fan favorite. However, they also have other urgent matters to worry about.

Stephen A. Smith could force ESPN to push Windy to replace Adrian Wojnarowski

With Woj gone, ESPN’s NBA team has suffered a hefty blow. The one person it can benefit, though, is the face of the platform and their headline talker, Stephen A. Smith. The 56-year-old vivacious personality is due to a contract extension as his current one expires in 2025. ESPN had reportedly offered him a five-year $90 million extension before Woj’s ultimate bombshell.

It would be enough to make him the joint highest earner at $18 million per year. The current holder is Troy Aikman, who appears on their Monday Night Football Segment. In normal circumstances, Smith might have been satisfied with sharing the pinnacle. But now, with the NBA team hit heavily, he could use it as his leverage.

Back in early July, Puck News reported Smith wanted a five-year $125 million extension. If not offered, as the matter stands now, ESPN risks losing two of its biggest NBA personalities within a matter of a year. In Front Office Sports’ talks with the revered media analyst recently, Smith told them, “He’s willing to leave to focus on his owned and operated YouTube show/podcast as well as opportunities in late-night TV, acting, and mainstream news.”

Smith operates his own YT channel with over 800k subscribers. Additionally, he has also moved to speak about non-sport topics, discussing the current Presidential race on shows such as Cuomo and Fox News. Regardless, with ESPN paying $2.6 billion to the NBA for the new media rights deal from next season, the media giants have a colossal decision to make.