Recently NBA Insider and analyst Shams Charania found himself in an embarrassing situation. The Athletic reporter got called out for running the popular social media account Hoop Central. A grave error on the part of the Chicago native, finding himself amid a storm online.
What appeared the screenshot to be captured from Shams’ phone. Thus leaving the 28-year-old in a distressing situation with social media digging up some of the account’s old tweets, uncovering his biased opinions on players and former colleagues.
And now… did The Athletic’s Shams Charania, one of the most reputable sources of NBA news, just accidentally reveal to the whole world that he’s operating Hoop Central, one of the most-followed NBA highlight/discussion Twitter accounts?
Hoop Central, in a now-deleted tweet, posted a screenshot of Draymond Green’s response to Charania’s Instagram post detailing Patrick Beverley’s three-game suspension for shoving Deandre Ayton.
While that seems innocuous enough, Twitter users pointed out that the screenshot must have come from Charania himself, seeing as to how the user who took the screengrab has the same profile picture as Charania himself. In addition, the reply option was also present, which only becomes available to the original poster.
Some Twitter users pointed out that all of those purported evidence doesn’t necessarily mean that Shams Charania is the mastermind behind Hoops Central. They argued that Charania could have sent the screenshot to the admins behind the viral account. Moreover, others asserted that perhaps a third-party is in charge of both social media accounts.
Nevertheless, Twitter still had a field day over Charania’s alleged burner blunder.
The story starts with Patrick Beverley's suspension, which was posted by the well-known Twitter account Hoop Central just moments after the story broke.
Why is that noteworthy? As fans pointed out later, the screenshot used in the Tweet may have exposed the account as Shams himself.
Despite the theories, it's highly unlikely that Shams has anything to do with the account. Besides the fact that he regularly uses his own, real account, Shams probably doesn't have the time to manage something like that anyway. As he has revealed in interviews, he's always working behind the scenes to find the next big story.
It's no secret that Shams has dedicated most of his time to his craft. He's one of the best at what he does, and that's because he never stops looking for the next big story. Apparently, Shams spends anywhere from 17-18 hours a day behind a screen.
Asked about his screen time, Charania answered that the typical amount is 17-18 hours per day — and that it climbs over 20 hours during frenetic periods of the NBA Draft and free agency.
It makes his “heart sink” when he is on a flight where the Wi-Fi doesn’t work. He mostly forgoes driving for ride-shares — his trips from the suburbs into Stadium’s offices adjoining the United Center are about 40 minutes each way, a couple times a week — lest he miss a scoop while behind the wheel. “I remember every story I’ve gotten, and I definitely remember every story I haven’t gotten,” he said, in an aside when we were discussing his heart pounding in the process of obtaining the Gobert scoop.
Naturally, fans are always going to speculate whenever they can and this was no exception. Despite so little evidence, many fans are convinced they have exposed Shams' burner account.
But whether they're right or not, Charania isn't going to stop what he's doing to feed the narrative. He's just going to keep doing what he always has and let the fans keep guessing as they wait for more news.
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