Shams Charania On 'Fraud' Watch After Giannis Antetokounmpo Stayed With Bucks

In the world of NBA "insidering," you are only as good as your last tweet. Right now, ESPN insider Shams Charania looks less like a breaking-news king and more like the boy who cried "Greek Freak."

By Thursday afternoon, the internet had seen enough. Fans were fed up with the slow-drip buildup from Shams that Giannis Antetokounmpo was on the move, only for the whole thing to fizzle out into nothing. For months, we were force-fed a diet of "Shams Bombs" that turned out to be glorified clickbait. 

We heard about aggressive offers and mounting frustration in Milwaukee. According to the gospel of Shams, Giannis was practically packing his bags for Miami or New York.

Except the trade deadline came and went. The clock struck 3 p.m. Eastern, and Antetokounmpo was still exactly where he started: with the Bucks.

BROOKLYN, NY - JUNE 25: Shams Charania looks on during the 2025 NBA Draft - Round One on June 25, 2025 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Evan Yu/NBAE via Getty Images)

As "Shams is a fraud" echoed across X, the cries for Adrian Wojnarowski’s return reached a fever pitch. There was a time when an insider’s word was bond. 

To pile on the Shams hate Thursday, the Bucks used their own platforms to publicly cook the NBA’s most overhyped insider. Even Doc Rivers got his shots in. 

Before Shams could step onto the court for the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game, Rivers joked that he was putting him "on the trade block."

The Bucks took a Victory Lap, pantsing Shams on the way out, and Giannis delivered the final blow by posting the Wolf of Wall Street "I’m not leaving" clip.

You can be first 99 times, but the aura fades when you cannot close with the kind of news you spend months teasing like it is league-altering. Shams may still have the fastest thumbs in the East, but fans are realizing that being fast is not the same as being right.

Kay Adams, if you are reading this, leave this clown behind like James Harden left the Clippers.

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - APRIL 09: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks reacts to a score during the first half of a game against the Boston Celtics at Fiserv Forum on April 09, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

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