ESPN’s Shams Charania stunned the basketball world in 2025 when he broke news of the blockbuster trade involving Luka Dončić and Anthony Davis before anyone else could. By now, those kinds of scoops have become part of his reputation. The 32-year-old insider has built a habit of beating official league announcements, and this Sunday followed the same script when he jumped onto X with fresh news involving Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won his second consecutive NBA Most Valuable Player award, becoming the 14th player in league history to win back-to-back MVPs,” he wrote, but the issue here was that it was to be announced on NBA on Prime later that evening. So, the Amazon Prime studio had some words for the reporter.

Taylor Rooks, the host, kept it subtle yet loaded with sarcasm. “Just to be clear, the official announcement is happening here,” Rooks said. “Dirk (Nowitzki) and Steve (Nash), you all both won MVPs, but I don’t remember Shams spoiling it back then.”

It was a perfect layup, and former MVP and Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki stated, “He was a baby then.”

While he kept the retort simple, former #1 pick and ROTY Blake Griffin honed his comic skills: “It’s Sunday, Shams,” Griffin said. “Go to brunch, you nerd.”

Griffin was likely poking fun at Charania’s early days on X, long before he became one of the NBA’s premier insiders. Back then, the reporter had developed a reputation for casually posting updates about everyday things, including frequent tweets about heading out for lunch.

Regardless, the SGA news was supposed to be announced exclusively on Prime. But ESPN’s senior insider sent out a tweet at 9:50 a.m. ET and ESPN followed it up with a published news story at 10:15 a.m. ET. Later, Charania also joined SportsCenter to reveal the news. In the end, Nash officially announced the news at around 7:45 p.m. ET.

Although voting for MVP and the rest of the NBA’s postseason honors is completed before the playoffs begin, the league has long preferred to reveal the winners during high-profile moments on broadcasts from its media partners. Earlier in the postseason, awards such as Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year were announced on NBC broadcasts.

Then on Friday, the NBA confirmed that Prime Video’s pregame coverage would be used to unveil the MVP winner ahead of Game 7 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons.

In the end, Gilgeous-Alexander won the MVP award for the second straight season, earning 83 of 100 first-place votes to beat out Nikola Jokić and Victor Wembanyama. The Thunder have now produced two straight sweeps in the postseason on their path to winning the championship again. That’s why fans and Prime analysts had an issue with ESPN and Shams Charania for leaking the news.

In fact, a number of fans quickly pointed out the awkward timing of the scoop from ESPN’s top insider, especially because the network has been the NBA’s longest-running media partner. By breaking the news early, the report undercut the exclusivity that Prime Video had been set to receive for the announcement, much like NBC did with other postseason awards earlier in the playoffs.

The timing stood out even more because this marks the first season of the NBA’s new 11-year, $77 billion media-rights agreement involving the three broadcast partners, and none of the previous postseason awards had leaked before their official on-air reveals.

The other side of the coin

Not everyone believed Shams Charania deserved the criticism. Royce Young, the former ESPN reporter who now works in the Oklahoma City Thunder front office, defended Charania by arguing the insider was simply doing what reporters are supposed to do.

“Don’t blame Shams,” Young wrote on X. “Blame whoever told him.”

Nevertheless, it was big news for the NBA player. History puts him in rare company. Every retired player to capture back-to-back MVP awards has eventually been inducted into the Hall of Fame, a group filled with some of basketball’s most iconic names, including Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell.

“It’s special,” Gilgeous-Alexander said about it. “All those guys have shaped the game of basketball. All those guys have changed the game and how it’s played and how it was approached before that. To be in just that circle, to be in that conversation, it’s something that I don’t take lightly. I’m super grateful for it.”

There was a familiar feeling inside the Oklahoma City Thunder practice facility when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stepped to the podium for his latest MVP news conference. Just like after his first MVP win a year earlier, teammates surrounded him wearing matching Burberry trench coats that Gilgeous-Alexander had included in an extravagant gift basket. Laughing about the scene, he pointed out that every coat fit perfectly, except the one meant for Chet Holmgren, whose 7-foot-1 frame apparently needed a custom adjustment.

However, there won’t be much time for the team to soak in the MVP celebration. Waiting for them is one of the postseason’s most anticipated matchups, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder prepare to open their series against fellow MVP contender Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night in Oklahoma City.