Pat McAfee is facing fresh criticism after acknowledging on his show that he used advance word from ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania to place a bet on LeBron James\u2019 free agency destination before the decision became public, with author Jeff Pearlman using the moment to argue the network has fully abandoned any remaining claim to journalistic credibility.<\/p>\n
According to the former Indianapolis Colts punter, Charania, who\u2019d appeared on the show regularly throughout James\u2019 free agency, told him ahead of time that he\u2019d want him on that day\u2019s program, a signal, without saying so outright, that James had made his decision and it hadn\u2019t gone public yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were told by Shams, \u2018You\u2019re gonna want me on the show today,’\u201d McAfee said, recounting the moment. \u201cSo it\u2019s like, OK, decision\u2019s being made. I just hammered top four. He was at +700.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pearlman responded to this snippet from McAfee\u2019s Show in an extended TikTok rant, framing it as evidence that ESPN\u2019s gambling business has eclipsed whatever journalistic function remains at the network.<\/p>\n
\u201cESPN just laid off a bunch of people, real reporters, real journalists, people who take this seriously, and we\u2019re listening to Shams, who\u2019s their NBA insider, on the show with the guy talking about how he used information that he received on his show from people involved with his show to gamble on where LeBron James is going,\u201d Pearlman said. \u201cAnd this is just fine in modern media. And I know some of you people are like, \u2018Can you just stop?\u2019 It is so poisonous and so ruinous, gambling in sports, and it is crazy to me that ESPN keeps firing people, firing people, firing people, shedding salaries, shedding salaries, cutting this, cutting that, but the gambling thing they\u2019re all in on.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd any remaining pretense, and I really mean this, any remaining pretense that ESPN is anything more than a moneymaking entity is bullsh*t. They\u2019re not a journalistic entity anymore. They have relations with all the places they cover. They run a sportsbook, so they\u2019re a gambling outlet now. They have guys like Pat McAfee, not just talking about gambling, and not just talking about lines, but saying how he\u2019s taking the information he\u2019s receiving as an ESPN person and then gambling on it. And you have the NBA insider just nodding along and going, \u2018Ha ha ha, he he he, oh yeah this is great, here\u2019s the information I\u2019m gonna give you.\u2019 It is f*cking sick, seriously. It\u2019s disgusting and disturbing.\u201d<\/p>\n
@jeffpearlmanauthor<\/a> Here\u2019s ESPN\u2019s Pat McAfee using info from Shams to gamble on LeBron. Nothing to see here. #patmcafee<\/a> #lebron<\/a> #shams<\/a> #gambling #espn<\/a> \u266c original sound \u2013 Jeff Pearlman<\/a><\/p>\n Pearlman\u2019s comments come amid ESPN\u2019s recent wave<\/a> of layoffs, which the network has attributed<\/a> largely to its integration of NFL assets acquired earlier this year. Those cuts have included Ryan Clark, who was informed of his layoff mid-broadcast during an episode of NFL Live, along with Karl Ravech, David Lloyd, Stephania Bell, Cam Newton, Bart Scott, Charles Davis, and Tom Pelissero. The cuts have also come within weeks of reports that ESPN and McAfee\u2019s camp are discussing an extension<\/a> worth $60 to $65 million annually, which would make McAfee the highest-paid personality in sports media history.<\/p>\n McAfee has pushed back on any suggestion<\/a> that his own deal is connected to the layoffs, calling that framing \u201cterrible\u201d and arguing his critics don\u2019t \u201cfully understand budgets and where things are coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n None of this happens in a vacuum for McAfee, who has spent years building his show\u2019s identity partly around sports betting. He walked away from a reported $120 million deal with FanDuel<\/a> in 2023 to bring his show to ESPN, later admitting that giving betting picks under FanDuel\u2019s arrangement was \u201cthe worst world to be in<\/a>\u201d compared to the looser gambling banter ESPN allows him. He unveiled a new partnership<\/a> with DraftKings as his show\u2019s exclusive sportsbook partner in June, and used that new partnership almost immediately to launch a betting-adjacent game show<\/a> called \u201cProgrum Feud,\u201d encouraging viewers to wager on which studio crew would win a Family Feud-style contest.<\/p>\n As for Pearlman, he\u2019s previously argued that gambling money has quietly corroded sports media\u2019s credibility, and he treated the McAfee-Charania exchange as the latest symptom of a sickness he\u2019s diagnosed before. He leveled a nearly identical charge at Bill Simmons<\/a> last year, in the middle of an unrelated feud with Pablo Torre, accusing Simmons of propping up The Ringer with what he called \u201cblood money\u201d and arguing the outlet wouldn\u2019t survive without its gambling sponsorships.<\/p>\n The broader issue Pearlman raised wasn\u2019t unique to McAfee\u2019s anecdote, either. Pro Football Talk noted in its own coverage<\/a> of James\u2019 free agency that the \u201cworld of unregulated inside information can move markets,\u201d pointing to a separate example from earlier in the process when a Miami Heat social media mishap<\/a> leaked news of an introductory press conference that never actually happened, days after ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter had floated Miami as a landing spot for James<\/a> on a Philadelphia radio show.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is so poisonous and so ruinous, gambling in sports,\u201d Pearlman said. \u201cI don\u2019t know where the people who care are. What happened in society that we got so greedy where this is what it\u2019s all about? I honestly don\u2019t get it. It\u2019s such a sickness.\u201d<\/p>\n \t