Phoenix Suns legend Charles Barkley has worked as an NBA analyst on ‘Inside The NBA’ for 21 years, but his time on the show might be coming to an end soon. Shaquille O’Neal has earlier spoken about Barkley’s retirement plan, and while Shaquille wants him to be with them forever, Barkley has other plans.
Ernie Johnson, alongside O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Barkley are the current panelists on the show. But plans might be ongoing in search of a replacement for Barkley.
Speaking with Eddie Gonzalez and Kevin Durant on “The ETCs,” Chuck talked about what it was like playing in different eras, capping the conversation with his retirement plans (35:20).
“The end is close. I don’t – listen, I have to be realistic about, and have common sense. Imma die someday. I don’t wanna die working. I wanna enjoy the back nine of life. I’m not tryna be morbid or whatever. I’m 58-years-old. I wanna work till I’m 60. But like I don’t wanna be working till the day I die. I want to enjoy all this damn hard work I put in. Obviously, I’m blessed to be in this situation but I’m not gonna be clocking in at 69 or 70-years-old. I wanna be on a golf course traveling the world traveling the country.”
He went on to express his love for basketball and how he has no idea what he would have become without basketball, but he is ready to hang his boots.
“Man I love basketball. It’s given me every single thing in my life. I don’t have any idea what I’d be doing. But it gave me 16 years, I just started my 21st year on Television. But I wanna enjoy… like I said, I don’t want to be going to work when I’m 70-years-old. That makes zero sense for me.”
Barkley retired in 2000 and is a Hall of Famer. Although he never won an NBA championship, he is one of the greatest to ever play the game. He finished his 16-year career averaging 22.1 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.5 steals while shooting 54.1% from the field.
