Former Mavericks executive slams ESPN amid recent attrition

Former Dallas Mavericks director of quantitative research and development Haralabos Voulgaris recently took aim at ESPN on X. This week, the outlet let go of Zach Lowe, a longtime fan-favorite NBA analyst who provided some of the most insightful breakdowns of happenings in the NBA sphere.

The departure of Lowe came just days after longtime NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski shockingly announced his retirement from news media. While many view the losses of Lowe and Wojnarowski as massive blows to ESPN, Voulgaris questioned why ESPN was paying Woj so much in the first place.

Wojnarowski provided round-the-clock breaking news on social media in the form of his Woj Bombs. Former Mavericks exec Haralabos Voulgaris questioned the value of breaking news on social media compared to the insightful analysis provided by Lowe.

He was responding to a post on X that was, in turn, a reaction to a post about Lowe's departure.

"They were paying Woj all that $ - can you find me one person who listened to his pods regularly or found any of his TV performances insightful? His main value was getting info and tweeting it out 30 secs before his competition. Not sure ESPN in its current state understands 'value'," he said on X.

When one fan countered, saying that the breaking news Wojnarowski provided led to greater website clicks, Voulgaris replied with a draft-day screenshot from 2018, writing:

"Do you think this was the case when he was tweeting out NBA draft picks on his twitter before the picks were announced on ESPN. I don't see any links here..."

The point being made by Voulgaris here was that Wojnarowski's posts on X didn't include any links, so they can't be seen as promoting greater traffic to the website.

Adrian Wojnarowski explains his decision to leave ESPN and retire from news media

The news that ESPN was letting go of Zach Lowe was just as shocking as the news that Adrian Wojnarowski was walking away from news media. The key difference, of course, as former Mavericks exec Haralabos Voulgaris pointed out, is that Lowe was shockingly laid off.

The combination of moves has left many NBA fans thinking that ESPN is diving headfirst into the 'hot take media' provided by on-air personalities such as Kendrick Perkins and Stephen A. Smith. Many think the network is doing away with traditional basketball coverage and analysis provided by the likes of Zach Lowe.

While the NBA community was questioning why ESPN would part ways with Lowe, Adrian Wojnarowski was introduced as the GM of St. Bonaventure men's basketball.

During his introductory press conference, Woj spoke about his decision to walk away from ESPN, and news media as a whole:

“I said take everything else out of it, and I would ask myself which job would I rather do, and it was an easy decision for me. I’ve only felt I have gained in this, I don’t feel like I gave anything up.”

“I just kept thinking, 'Jeez, that sounds fun. That sounds like a lot more fun than what I am doing right now'.”

With Wojnarowski now at the helm of the St. Bonaventure program, the school will play its first game of the season on Nov. 4, against the Cal State Northridge Matadors.