After much speculation and doubt about the future of NBA coverage on TNT, the news was confirmed on Wednesday that the 2024-25 season would be the final run for ‘Inside the NBA’ with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal. Barkley, after hearing the news, revealed his initial thoughts and portrayed a feeling of contentment toward the situation.
“It sucks right now because I’m worried about all the people that I work with. But for me, I just turned 61 and I’ve got enough money. I don’t even look at it as getting fired,” said Barkley on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “I said, ‘Damn I get to play more golf?!’ Cause people are asking what I’m thinking right now and I’m like, ‘Please hurry and get this Western Conference Finals over because I can play golf every day for the next four months.”
Reports say next year will be the last season for “Inside the NBA” on TNT.
Charles Barkley on the future of the NBA on TNT.@TheFrankIsola | @Scalabrine
Catch the full Charles Barkley Interview: https://t.co/5G2MeETuNX pic.twitter.com/aI96MecSso
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) May 22, 2024
Barkley is a former NBA legend who is most famous for his run with the Phoenix Suns and the Team USA ‘Dream Team’ in 1992. Since retiring, he’s transitioned to the world of television, where he’s been a constant feature of ‘Inside the NBA’ on weekday nights throughout the NBA season. After many years with his three co-hosts, they earned a spot at the top of the NBA media coverage and became a fan-favorite for their jokes, chemistry, and timeless conversations.
Sadly, the show is fixing to come to an end in 2025 and there’s little anyone can do to change that now with the NBA’s media rights deal allegedly in its final stages of agreement with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon.
Barkley will not mind the break from action and it seems he’s been preparing for this moment for a while now. As for everyone else, however, it will be hard for fans to swallow that their favorite NBA media crew is disbanding after so many years and it truly feels like the end of an era for the NBA and basketball coverage as a whole.
New Media Rights Deal Will Change The NBA
While things will stay mostly the same, the NBA’s return of $7 billion in the deal will have some long-term implications for the entire league. The salary cap could see a 10% growth every season, starting in the 2025-26 campaign, and it could push the final spending limit to $200+ million within a few years. Salaries across the league would increase for everyone and we could see historically high-value max contracts get handed out in large numbers.
Between this financial boom and a shift in media coverage, it will be interesting to see how the fans react and if the feedback is positive or negative. So far, nobody is happy with the end of the TNT era and ESPN will have some big shoes to fill if they want to match the success of that legendary show.
As for the “big four” that we know and love, they will not lose too much sleep over how things played out. After so much time at the top, and plenty of memories along the way, Barkley, Ernie, Shaq, and Kenny have no regrets over their past and they can look back with pride at their run on ‘Inside the NBA.’
Most of them are surely headed for retirement now, but some (like O’Neal) will still be around in the public eye thanks to other media projects, including podcasts, documentaries, and social media.
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