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ESPN’s Shams Charania Explained What He Was Thinking During Viral Pregame Moment
ESPN NBA Insider Shams Charania made his first appearance on the network's NBA Finals pregame show before Game 5 on Monday night and quickly went viral for some faces he made while the crew was talking about where Kevin Durant might play next season.
This all happened when former NBA player Iman Shumpert was breaking down possible landing spots for Durant. When he said that San Antonio could be the perfect fit for the future Hall of Famer, Charania could be seen turning and looking at the cameras, which made viewers think he might have some inside knowledge about Durant possibly joining the Spurs.
Here's how that played out:
Look at Shams's body language when Iman Shumpert mentions the Spurs as KD’s best landing spot.
— Spurs Interaction (@SpursInteracti1) June 17, 2025
What does he know? 👀🤔
Maybe I’m just doing too much. 🤷♂️#Spurs pic.twitter.com/pY5w4oQoiP
On Tuesday, Charania cleared that all up while making appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. He joked about how it was his first time on the Finals pregame show and he didn't know he was in on camera while Shumpert was breaking down a possible Durant-Spurs union.
"I'm gathering my surroundings, my first time on the show," he said. "I gotta figure out are they doing one [camera] shots, are they keeping it on [all of] us?"
Charania had a good laugh about it all:
"What I start thinking about is this possible [Kevin Durant to the Spurs]? ... I'm gathering my surroundings, my first time on the show. I gotta figure out are they doing one shots, are they keeping it on us?"
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 17, 2025
- Shams Charania
(via @PatMcAfeeShow)pic.twitter.com/M7qcjWl5it https://t.co/CEEOCbuhHW
So yeah, sorry Spurs fans—it doesn't seem like the top NBA insider in the game has any news on Durant possibly going to San Antonio.
At least not yet.
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Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.