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INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 13: Shams Charania (left) and Amon-Ra St. Brown during the Celebrity Game during 2026 NBA All-Star at The Kia Forum on February 13, 2026 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Ryan Sirius Sun/Getty Images)
NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo took joy in coaching ESPN insider Shams Charania in the All-Star Celebrity Game on Friday night. The annual tradition of celebrities playing a competitive exhibition game as part of the NBA All-Star Weekend featured some interesting names interacting with each other. Antetokounmpo coached one of the celebrity teams with Charania attempting to play basketball for him.
Unfortunately, a terrible performance by Shams made it easier for Giannis to make fun of him. Charania delivered 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, and 3 turnovers to get benched by Antetokounmpo. The 0 for 5 shooting from the field ensured that Shams would get made fun for his weak outing, especially since he reports deep professional details about top players.
A viral moment showed Charania getting benched by Giannis and making eye contact upon realizing he was done for the night:
Shams then was caught looking at his phone during the game since he’s working on finding scoops in the NBA news cycle nonstop. Kevin Durant even chimed in on Twitter to make fun of Charania for ignoring the game and spending his time checking messages. The celebrity game saw Shams as the biggest loser with trending topics making fun of him on social media all night.
Giannis Roasted Shams Before Game Started
A pre-game interview on ESPN with Giannis showed the two-time MVP not afraid to take shots at Charania. Richard Jefferson claimed Antetokounmpo had an unfair advantage with some talented athletes on his roster. Giannis had a quick retort ready to throw one player on his squad under the bus.
“You know, why it’s not fair? Because we have Shams on my team. He cannot hoop! But everybody else can hoop,” Antetokounmpo joked. The ESPN broadcasters enjoyed Giannis’ humor and sold the joke perfectly. Pressure grew for Charania to have a good performance after that joke, and he unfortunately failed to hit a shot.
Most celebrities in the game struggle to deliver good performances, but it is rare that someone scores zero points on five shot attempts. Popular actor Kevin Hart has been the butt of the jokes in past games for his struggles, despite winning fan votes for MVP multiple times. Shams replaced Hart as the punching bag for Giannis and others last night.
Does Giannis Have Beef With Shams?
The trade deadline and daily rumors about Giannis’ future reported by Shams likely did create a rift between them. Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers even made some jokes about Antetokounmpo potentially trading Charania once Giannis was announced as the coach.
Past comments have shown that Giannis dislikes when inaccurate reports or rumors get tied to his name. Shams reporting daily about Antetokounmpo trade targets for the past few months before the trade deadline led to them having conflicting viewpoints.
Giannis staying in Milwaukee led to him making fun of all the reports involving his name to show he paid attention to Charania and others. The All-Star Celebrity Game provided the perfect revenge to roast Shams before the game and to bench him once he delivered a stinker on the court.
Joey Haverford Joey Haverford is a seasoned sports content writer with over 12 years of experience. He has covered the NBA, WNBA, MLB, NFL, and professional wrestling in the sports industry. More about Joey Haverford
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