For years, the sportswriter Adrian Wojnarowski used his sources and his hustle to repeatedly beat the competition on basketball stories big and small. But his drive and deft use of social media also helped change the entire sports journalism landscape.
Wojnarowski, who announced Wednesday that he was retiring from ESPN to become general manager of the basketball team at St. Bonaventure University, his alma mater, developed a well-earned reputation for getting professional basketball news first, and then rapidly getting it out to the public, often via a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
When he was first, which was often, and the news was big, it was dubbed a “Woj Bomb.” Other reporters scrambled to confirm the news, then sent out tweets of their own, but crucially only after Wojnarowski’s. Even if he was only 30 seconds faster than the competition, Wojnarowski had his scoop. And because the social media algorithms often prioritize being first, the speed could gain him tens of thousands of extra clicks.
The medium was a big part of the message for Wojnarowski. Rather than following the old media model — interacting with an editor, polishing the prose and waiting for publication — Wojnarowski went straight to social media, even if it was just with a sentence reporting that a trade had occurred or that a free agent had signed a contract, to own a story.
It made him a star and it made him rich. ESPN paid him millions of dollars.
“Scoops are not a new thing,” said Laith Zuraikat, an assistant professor of radio, TV and film at Hofstra University. “But what he did so effectively was take a lot of that traditional journalistic insider work and transition and use Twitter. I’m sure others thought of it, but nobody did it as well as he did. He was the guy.”
Far from being an anomaly, Wojnarowski, first at Yahoo and then at ESPN, became a model for many other reporters who embraced his style. ESPN emphasized other accomplished journalists, like Jeff Passan on baseball, Adam Schefter on the N.F.L. and Pete Thamel on college sports, who focused on breaking news that would then drive hours or even days of coverage on the company’s various shows. Other media companies tried to match that lineup with scoop-breakers of their own who could race to share their knowledge on social media.
It helped his impact that X could be essentially a public meeting place for reporters, who shared their insights, quips and observations with each other and their audience in real time.
Wojnarowski’s stature as an “insider,” someone who could get important N.B.A. executives and agents to reveal information, also burnished his reputation. And once again, other sports journalists tried to match his access, not always successfully.
“Access is incredibly important,” Zuraikat said. “Athletes don’t need the media; they can put something out on Instagram. He was able to cultivate relationships with people inside of organizations; that was hypercritical to his success. The Woj Bomb became a cultural thing. Athletes or agents decide to give the news to him. They knew everyone was going to see it and know it was true.”
On N.B.A. draft nights, Wojnarowski not only scooped his fellow journalists, he scooped the league, tweeting out which players would be selected seconds before they actually were. In 2018, the league asked him not to do so to avoid spoiling the night for fans. Instead he said that teams were “focused on” or “enamored with” players to get the information out anyway.
The N.B.A. trade deadline was another showcase for him; no deal was too small or player too obscure to be a part of a scoop, and fans eager for any morsel of news about their favorite team ate up what he was serving out.
“When kids tell me, ‘I want to be the next Woj.’ I say, don’t skip the steps,” Zuraikat said. “He took the steps he learned as a beat reporter and took them into the modern age.”
At 55, Wojnarowski now moves to St. Bonaventure, in southwestern New York. In a statement, he noted that it was 37 years since he had his first byline at The Hartford Courant in Connecticut. The move was unexpected, both because he was at the top of his profession and because it is not common for a sports journalist to be part of a team front office.
But being a scoop machine in an era when everyone has access to social media is not easy. Woj bombs could come at any hour of the day, all year long, meaning Wojnarowski didn’t seem to have much time to himself.
“I understand the commitment required in my role, and it’s an investment that I’m no longer driven to make,” he said in his statement. “Time isn’t in endless supply, and I want to spend mine in ways that are more personally meaningful.”
In a statement released by the university, Wojnarowski said, “I’m hopeful to share with members of our community some best practices learned from the most successful franchises and minds in the N.B.A. and committed to opening doors globally for our players both on and off the court.”
No one scooped Wojnarowski on the announcement.
