Charles Barkley spoke about inviting players to be a part of NBA TV on Paul George‘s ‘Podcast P’ show. He noted that several players end up freezing in the moment, and not performing well due to nervousness. It becomes a very frustrating experience for Barkley, who is a 20-year veteran in broadcasting, to see players underdeliver when given the opportunity.
“I’ll tell you what’s really funny. We have a studio, NBA TV. We always bring in guys we think are going to be great on TV… They might even go to the competition. They get on TV and f**king freeze up. That’s the sh*t that drives us crazy. NBA TV is on seven nights a week. I love getting brothers on television, love it.”
“There’s not many jobs you can do when you retire. If you get lucky, get one of these TV jobs, and you’re set up for life. So we bring in dudes all the time. And we sit there like ‘What the f**k?’ You’re so funny, you’re cool to be around. Why are you nervous on television?'”
“Especially if we’re in for the playoffs, we’re in for two months. We have three or four guys every single night… They always ask us ‘What do you think of this dude? Oh, we would love to have them on’.”
“And then when that dude gets on television, he gets deer in the headlights, and they get out there and start speaking in ebonics. I’m like ‘Yo man, we’re talking about basketball. We were just in the green room talking about basketball. Why, when the camera gets on your a**, do you freeze up?”
Charles Barkley: “We always bring in guys we think gon' be great… They get on TV, & they f*cking freeze up… Sh*t that drives us crazy.”
Paul George: “I did Game 3 & 4 of the [NBA] Finals… I’m like, 'This sh*t is different.’” 😂
(via @PodcastPShow)pic.twitter.com/c3XecgAE29
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 7, 2024
Barkley’s frustration is understandable. Opportunities to be on television in analyst or color commentator roles for former players are not easy to come by. Barkley goes out of his way to try and get people these opportunities. And for them to underdeliver due to nervousness can be a very frustrating experience.
Charles Barkley Will Continue With TNT
Recently, there has been a lot of speculation about the future of Charles Barkley as a broadcaster. With the NBA rejecting Warner Bros. Discovery’s matching offer sheet to retain the rights to the NBA, it marks the end of ‘Inside The NBA’ as we know it. But Barkley is set to continue with TNT in the long run.
Charles Barkley spoke earlier this year about potentially retiring and even confirmed his plan to walk away from broadcasting at the end of next season. However, it appears that Barkley has reversed his decision to retire, returning to TNT to see out the end of his massive 10-year, $210 million contract.
Barkley spoke about the recent loss of the media rights to the NBA on the part of TNT, noting that they expected to lose the rights to Amazon Prime or NBC Universal. Nonetheless, Barkley will continue to serve as an analyst on TNT and regularly appear on NBA TV.
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