Even though TNT will no longer have the NBA’s media rights after the 2024–2025 season, Charles Barkley will remain there. Given the uncertainty surrounding the staff and crew’s fate, this year will mark the end of “Inside The NBA,” as we have known it for the past 20 years. Barkley criticized TNT in a recent interview with Bill Simmons for failing to clarify what would happen with them.
Barkley joined TNT in 2000, and in 2022, he inked a 10-year contract extension that was dubbed one of the largest talent agreements in TV history. Rather than departing the network, he will carry out his commitments under that deal until 2032. He recently disclosed that he left a fortune of over $100 million on the table to keep the staff of Inside The NBA employed.
Barkley said, “I have zero idea what we’re gonna do. What makes it even funnier — they don’t even have no idea what we’re gonna do. I’m sitting in this meeting in Philly, [they’re] like, we wanna keep doing the show. I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’ ‘We wanna keep y’all together. Well, I would consider that because I want all my friends to keep their jobs. I said, ‘What are we going to do? They’re like, ‘We haven’t figured that out yet,’ I’m like, ‘What?'”
He added, “We won’t have basketball. What the hell are we going to do? That’s the thing that’s fascinating. I know we have one more year with the NBA. Then, we’re going to lose it, and they want to do the show for at least another year. But I’m like, we don’t even have basketball. We’re going to have to pay for highlights.”
TNT Previously Hinted On Continuing The Show With Charles Barkley & Co.
There have been suggestions that the show will continue as a general sports program covering everything from across the sporting globe or on a highlight-sharing arrangement where TNT will have to pay the NBA or one of its three media partners.
The networks have already stated that Ernie Johnson and Barkley would remain there, but what will happen to Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal is unknown. If Barkley had decided to quit his TNT contract at the end of the 2024–25 season, NBC and Amazon, two new media partners, were allegedly interested in signing him as the largest free agent in sports media. But Barkley decided to remain.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NBA stories via Google! Follow Us
Barkley and Johnson will appear on a sports program that will most likely keep the same cast as Inside The NBA. It will be interesting to see what this program does in its next phase after more than 35 years on the air, whether or not Shaq and Kenny stick around for that.
Also Read: Which NBA Players Have Been Officially Removed From NBA 2K25?
