At some point, Adrian Wojnarowski realized that it was all just vapor.

Wojnarowski, now the general manager of St. Bonaventure men’s basketball program, saw the light and discovered that insiderdom was meaningless. He discovered that he wanted his life back, that he no longer wanted to have his phone in his hand at the urinal, or have to jump out of the shower at a moment’s notice.

It’s an unforgiving — sometimes thankless — profession that requires you to be on call as often as people saving lives. And make no mistake, a lot of the insiders that come to mind, like Woj, Adam Schefter, Jeff Passan, and Shams Charania, are compensated handsomely. But is it worth spending 20 hours of screen time on your phone?

It depends on who you ask. Charania might tell you it was worth it because he was able to break one of the most jaw-dropping trades in modern NBA history. But even being first on Luka Dončić to the Lakers has its pitfalls. Not because of the trade itself, but there’s a price to pay for news only breaking through a select few.

That price, according to Charania, is sacrifice.

“I’ve had to walk out on dates,” Shams admitted on The Sports Reporters with Jeremy Schaap. “I’ve had to walk out on social events — a lot of social events. My friends don’t really like me. That’s why it’s very hard to have a consistent relationship, because you know the time that it requires. And you know the time that they deserve, rightfully. And there’s just moments where I’m always going to choose this, as of right now.

“The one thing that I do, like how I’m able to get away, is just family time. My whole family’s in Chicago; I’m in Chicago. And so, we’re all here. We’re all in very close proximity. It’s the little thing. It could be going on a walk. It could be going [to play] mini golf. It could be playing pickleball or watching a movie together. Now, again, I may not be fully present during those moments.”

And not being fully present in those intimate moments with loved ones is why Woj walked away.

For Shams, it’s a daily juggling act, balancing the nonstop grind with the hard truth that some parts of life will always play second fiddle. Woj just wasn’t willing to play that game anymore. He wasn’t going to allow things like Bruce Brown re-signing with the Denver Nuggets to swallow up his entire existence.

But for better or worse, that’s the cost of being first. And that’s a price Charania keeps paying, in more ways than one.