And-Ones: Woj, Awards, Samanic, Van Exel

In mid-September, perhaps the most surprising news of the NBA offseason occurred: Adrian Wojnarowski announced that he was retiring from ESPN and the news industry as a whole. It was later reported that he would become the general manager of the basketball program at St. Bonaventure, with the school confirming the news.

Speaking to his former Yahoo Sports colleague (and friend) Chris Mannix, who now works for Sports Illustrated, Wojnarowski explained his decision to leave his position at ESPN to work for his alma mater. He took a major pay cut, going from $7.3MM to $75K annually, but he was “burned out” by the always-on nature of his previous job. He was already advising the school on its search for the new position, as well as doing most of the work the job entailed.

“What I was doing, it just wasn’t fulfilling anymore,” Woj said. “I was just done. This is what gets me excited. To learn something new, to be part of something like this. It’s a whole new challenge.”

Wojnarowski, 55, also revealed that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March, which he alluded to in his retirement statement (“time isn’t in endless supply”), but the prognosis is good — he told Mannix he isn’t experiencing any symptoms, having been diagnosed early, and the cancer is “pretty limited in scope.”

Wojnarowski sent out a tweet addressing the diagnosis. “Appreciate all the kind words and concern but I’m going to be fine. My goal in sharing a prostate cancer diagnosis is to encourage screening and testing among men. Early diagnosis will make all the difference for me —- and many others too.”

There are more interesting details on Woj’s decision in Mannix’s story, which is worth reading in full.

Here are some more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

• Josh Robbins, Eric Nehm and Kelly Iko of The Athletic weigh in on the awards races thus far for the 2024/25 season. Interestingly, there’s no consensus choice among the three for any of the major awards. For Most Improved Player, Robbins selected Magic forward Franz Wagner, Nehm picked Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, and Iko chose Nuggets wing Christian Braun.
• Former NBA forward Luka Samanic, a 2019 first-round pick, has signed with Croatian club KK Cibona, according to the team (Twitter link). The 24-year-old forward, who spent last season with Utah, was born in Zagreb, where the team is based. Fenerbahce reportedly holds his rights for the rest of the season, despite signing with Cibona.
• Longtime NBA point guard and veteran assistant Nick Van Exel has decided to exit coaching, having co-founded a new agency called 100x Sports, per Marc Stein (Twitter link). Van Exel worked in various player development, scouting and coaching roles for Milwaukee, Memphis, Dallas, and most recently Atlanta over the past decade-plus.