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Longtime NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski shocked the sports world on Thursday when he announced he was retiring from his job in media to take a position with his alma mater, Saint Bonaventure.
Wojnarowski announced his retirement in a heartfelt message to fans on social media that stated, in part, “Time isn’t in endless supply and I want to spend mine in ways that are more personally meaningful.”
But former ESPN personality and Ringer founder/CEO Bill Simmons wasn’t a fan of the announcement, or the way it was covered. Instead, Simmons believed it to be overdramatic and self-aggrandizing.
Bill Simmons LASHES OUT at Woj and BERATES Adam Schefter for his coverage of Woj’s retirement
“Was Woj an ER doctor during COVID, I wasn’t sure!” pic.twitter.com/KOa5acMrqY
— The r/BillSimmons Podcast 🎙️ (@rBillSimmonsPod) September 20, 2024
More specifically, Simmons called out ESPN’s Adam Schefter for what he deemed to be an overreaction to the news.
“You can’t overreact after Adrian Wojnarowski retires like Adam Schefter did,” Simmons said on his podcast. “‘He wanted his life back. He didn’t want to have to work on holidays, he didn’t want to have to be away from more family gatherings, he didn’t want to take a shower with your phone up against the shower door so you can see a text that’s coming in, or take your phone with you to the urinal and hold it in one hand while you take care of your business in the other. That’s the life we live.’ That’s a thing Adam Schefter said on television!”
Simmons then compared Wojnarowski’s lifestyle to that of more vital worker.
“Was Adrian Wojnarowski, was he an ER doctor during COVID? I wasn’t sure,” he said mockingly. “What happened yesterday? What was that?”
On one hand, he kind of has a point. There are other NBA insiders. If it weren’t for Wojnarowski, someone else would break the exact same news. But he chose to be the one who was first to everything (unless Shams Charania beat him to it).
But Wojnarowski also broke a ton of massive NBA news and solidified himself as a mainstay in NBA culture. It will be weird not having him around.
Nobody died. Wojnarowski isn’t a martyr. But it does represent the end of an era in NBA culture.