The Process of Shams Charania Breaking NBA News Live on Pardon My Take

The final week of February starts off with a great Pardon My Take episode. NBA insider Shams Charania joined Mr. Cat and Mr. Commenter to discuss breaking into the biz at such a young age, looking at the league as a whole, free agency, and more. But Big J's like Shams are never truly "off," even if it means attempting to break NBA news live on PMT with Mr. Cat and Mr. Commenter by his side.

Mr. Cat: Oh, he's looking at his phone. What do we got? Just read it. Just read it. 

Mr. Commenter: Here, you tell me. I'll have Leroy break it.

Shams Charania: I have something, actually. 

Mr. Cat: Breaking Moos. 

Hank: MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Shams Charania: Can I make a call real quick?

Mr. Cat: Yeah, do it on air. 

Shams Charania: I think Markieff Morris got a buyout. 

Mr. Cat: We're watching Shams [and] his typing style. He's got a loose pinky, that's just floating out there. He's working hard with his thumbs. 

After not being 100% certain on where Morris would be going, Mr. Cat and Mr. Commenter put their Big J hats on and attempted to help break the story using their own sources. First up: the BOTY, Blake Griffin, who was a teammate of Morris in Detroit.

Mr. Cat: Do you know where Markieff is going? 

Shams Charania: Lakers or Toronto?

Blake Griffin: Gosh. What are we doing here?

Mr. Cat: We were literally interviewing Shams and he's like, "Holy shit. Markieff Morris just got bought out," and we won't let him leave the podcast studio until he gets the team. So now I'm working my sources by calling you.

Blake Griffin: Yeah, he's going to the Lakers but I don't know for sure.

Mr. Cat: Where are you right now? Are you with Markieff?

Blake Griffin: I'm sitting right next to Markieff. Where are you going, Markieff? Lakers. 

Shams Charania: What?!

Mr. Cat: I don't know if you're fucking with us, damn it. 

Blake Griffin: Markieff sounds a lot like me for some reason. 

Up next, it was time to get some other Big J's and recurring guests involved to see if this squad could help crack the case. Mr. Commenter put in a phone call to Rachel Nichols, but unfortunately, the ESPN host did not answer. And then Ryen Russillo, Voice of the Catamount Basketball Pump Up Open Hype Song, chimed in to give his thoughts. 

Ryen Russillo: I'd probably say Western Conference. No, I have no idea. 

Mr. Cat: Bounty. 500 bucks, whoever gets the scoop first. Can you call someone? 

Ryen Russillo: I could, I don't feel like it. 

Shams Charania: Lakers.

Mr. Cat: Confirmed?!

Shams Charania: They're the frontrunner. 

Mr. Cat: Frontrunner? What the fuck!

Mr. Cat: So, if you [Ryen] do hear anything, I honestly Shams is never getting this scoop, like, we are going to die in this room. 

Shams Charania: I mean, we kind of got ahead of it, though. 

Mr. Cat: But we don't have a team.

Shams Charania: No, we said Lakers.

Mr. Cat: You said frontrunner, I need to run with this. 

Ryen Russillo: Here's what I do love about information guys, because there is such competition with each other. They'll do sort of the vague, "All signs point to" the Lakers, but they can't actually say it's the Lakers. 

Shams Charania: Ryen has a point, I'm not going to lie. Ryen has a point. 

Mr. Cat: Oh man. He's [Shams] freaking out. Like this has literally been like 20 minutes that he's just been stuck in our studio. 

Eventually, Shams confirmed that it was, indeed, the Lakers. Regardless, this is a cool glimpse of what goes into the day in the life of being an insider. Millions of recipients at your finger tips, especially knowing that one bad miscue can cost you all credibility. Great job by Shams here not jumping the gun until he was certain, but Russillo was spot on with the "all signs point to" or "the leader in the clubhouse" thing. When in doubt, that's a solid route for some of these Big J's to take.