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Former Portland Trail Blazers beat reporter and current ESPN personality Chris Haynes is leaving the four-letter network to take the lead NBA post at Yahoo Sports. The news was reported earlier today by Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard on Twitter.
Sources:Free Agent reporter @ChrisBHaynes reaches agreement w/yahoo sports as Senior NBA insider, Will help build their NBA team.More coming
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) September 5, 2018
Marek Warszawski of the Fresno Bee has an extended column on Haynes’ career. It includes his start outside the business less than a decade ago, to taking his current position, formerly held by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
“In this business you’re only as good as your last story, and people quickly forget what you did in the past,” Haynes said. “So it’s been a little bit surreal, if you know my history, to be sought after. It’s surreal because seven years ago I was a security guard at a high school.”
In 2010, Haynes moved his family from Fresno to Portland to get his foot in the door as a freelance NBA writer. The “job” gave him a credential to games but not a paycheck, and working for minimum wage as a security guard, despite a kinesiology degree, left him frustrated and depressed.
Haynes credits his wife and perseverance for his rise. He covered the Blazers for four years with Comcast Sports Northwest, now NBC Sports Northwest.