Draymond Green calls Shams Charania tipping NBA MVP announcement ‘pathetic’
· Yahoo Sports
ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania faced plenty of criticism for reporting the 2026 NBA MVP award several hours ahead of Prime Video’s official announcement on Sunday.
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“Multiple sources tell me this morning that Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been voted as the NBA’s most valuable player,” Charania said on a Sunday edition of SportsCenter after initially breaking the news in a post on X. “This means he’s won back-to-back MVP awards.”
During the pregame show ahead of Game 7 of the second-round series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons, the NBA on Prime crew called out Charania for the early announcement before they officially delivered the news.
And on Monday, Charania defended his SGA NBA MVP announcement: “My job is to report the news.”
Well, more criticism of the early report from Charania arrived on Monday, from four-time NBA champion Draymond Green.
Along with being a forward for the Golden State Warriors, Green has been an analyst on Inside the NBA over the years, including earlier this month. He will also serve as an Inside the NBA guest analyst during the Eastern Conference Finals. And Inside the NBA is now, of course, on ESPN, the same network on which Charania serves as the prominent lead NBA insider.
Green, who has certainly never been afraid to speak his mind, called the Charania reporting the NBA MVP before Prime Video’s official announcement “embarrassing” for the NBA, and he said that the NBA “has to do something about that.” He also referred to the early report as “pathetic.”
Draymond Green on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP announcement blunder:
“I think the NBA has to do something about that. You’re the NBA. You control the media… To tweet at 6 o’clock in the morning who the NBA MVP is, it’s actually embarrassing. Like, it makes our league look like… pic.twitter.com/fhx2v1JOIi
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 19, 2026
“Listen, I think the NBA has to do something about that,” Green said on his podcast. “Ultimately, you’re the NBA. You control the media. Shams is an NBA reporter with ESPN, who’s a partner of the NBA. To tweet at six o’clock in the morning who the NBA MVP is, it’s actually embarrassing. It makes our league look like we have no organization. It makes our league look like… That’s child’s play. We can’t hold the winner of the most prestigious individual award in the NBA; we can’t hold those results until it’s actually time to be announced?”
“That was a little disappointing,” Green continued. “There’s no way that can happen. If there’s supposed to be an announcement on Amazon Prime, the announcement has to happen on Amazon Prime. This is something Commissioner Silver has to do something about. This can’t happen. Come on. You leak it on Twitter? It also can’t be that important to leak information. Come on. I thought that was pretty pathetic, if I’m being honest. The NBA has to do something. That can’t be the case. The MVP gets leaked at six o’clock in the morning.”
“I actually thought it was fake, because I saw somebody else tweet it,” Green explained. “I had to start searching… and then go on Instagram, and, like, oh, no, it’s true…. Come on. Something has to be done. That cannot happen. The leak of the NBA MVP.”
“What are we doing?” Green added. “It would be one thing if it’s not a prominent reporter in the NBA. But, like, it’s Shams. Shams has to be in partnership with the NBA to be as prominent as he is. That can’t happen. I thought that was embarrassing.”
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