Wojnarowski plans to keep hustle at ESPN
Adrian Wojnarowski has 1.8 million followers on Twitter. Yet many of the hard-core NBA fans who swarm to his breaking news reports likely don’t know what he looks like. Yahoo Sports’ lead NBA columnist and editor doesn’t have a photo of himself on his account, and he rarely makes an on-camera appearance even in the voice-over videos for his sub-site, The Vertical.
Expect that to change, soon. Wojnarowski is joining ESPN on Saturday, in time for the open of NBA free agency. And in addition to his steadfast newshound reporting, Wojnarowski will have a front-facing role in the World Wide Leader’s TV coverage of the NBA.
Wojnarowski spoke Tuesday with USA TODAY Sports about his new job, which will be formally announced Wednesday, and what it means to leave the Yahoo Sports team that he helped bring into mainstream recognition. Above all else, he said to expect the same aggressive reporting and insider access on which he has built his reputation.
“I’m not going to change the way I cover the league,” Wojnarowski said. “But at the same time, being in the studio in Bristol and studio shows in Los Angeles ... I’m going to be very visible on all those shows.
“I have done a lot of — maybe people didn’t see it all — but I was on Fox, and before that I was in the NBC Sports studio. But there’s no question that for the broader audience, I’ve prob- ably been less visible. But I understand that’s going to change now.”
Reports of Wojnarowski joining ESPN first surfaced in February but became more concrete in May, shortly after a high-profile round of layoffs. But this hire has been in the works for months, with details being worked out including the future of his team at Yahoo. The Vertical’s front office expert, Bobby Marks, will join Wojnarowski at ESPN on Saturday.
Still, the news surprised some because Wojnarowski and ESPN have not always gotten along. In columns at Yahoo, Wojnarowski occasionally referred to ESPN as “a sports cable network” or even “that cheerleading network,” a nod to ESPN’s status as an NBA business partner.
“I look at it this way: I’m very competitive, and this is a competitive marketplace,” Wojnarowski said. “And I think everyone at ESPN is going to find that I’m a really good teammate and somebody who’s going to be generous with whatever I can be helpful with and competitive with the places that we’re going to compete with. But I’m not perfect, and there’s probably a few times along the line where I should have spared everyone or kept to myself.”
Wojnarowski plans to bring that competitiveness with him. Now 48, he says he never viewed ESPN as a destination job or an inevitable endpoint. And he’s not done grinding at 2 a.m. for breaking news.
“I’m exhilarated,” he said. “I’m excited to start there. I don’t see some finish line where I’m crossing some tape at the end. I feel like I’m sprinting into the job. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”