Bill Simmons isn’t mincing words. The influential sports analyst and media mogul went off on his podcast recently, voicing a blunt, scathing concern about ESPN’s ability to handle Inside the NBA, one of the most beloved sports shows of all time. With the program set to move to ESPN following TNT’s loss of NBA broadcasting rights, Simmons fears that what made the show iconic is on the verge of being lost.
“I think ESPN is going to f**k the show up. I don’t care if I get aggravated. I think they’re going to f**k the show up. Unless they completely change how they do commercials, the show is going to be different, and people are going to be pissed, and Barkley and those guys are going to be pissed. And I think it’s going to go badly.”
“The only way it doesn’t go badly is if they do the commercials and they give them the lengthy segments that you need to have that show work. They’re going to have to change how they do it.”
“They just paid so much for the NBA that if they don’t do that, and they do these same short terrible segments that you’re about to see in the Finals, where it’s like a one-and-a-half-minute halftime and it’s like a 20-minute pregame, if they do that, they’re going to fuck the show up, and everybody’s going to be bad.”
His rant zeroed in on ESPN’s rigid structure, over-commercialization, and limited segment times, which he believes are incompatible with the freewheeling, hilarious, and insightful chaos that defines Inside the NBA.
At the heart of his concern is timing. On TNT, Inside the NBA thrived because of its extended, unscripted format. Segments weren’t jammed between commercial breaks. Whether it was Shaquille O’Neal falling off his chair, Charles Barkley going off-script about role players, or Ernie Johnson steering the madness with grace, the show worked because it breathed.
The urgency of Simmons’ comments is amplified by the enormous financial stakes. ESPN, owned by Disney, is shelling out $2.6 billion annually for NBA rights under the new deal, nearly double the $1.4 billion they previously paid.
Yet Simmons believes that throwing money around means little if the product becomes over-produced and suffocated by commercial slots.
“Whoever’s running ESPN has not cared for this entire century about this. This is something they knew was a problem, and they just didn’t care. They just cashed some checks in the commercials. Yeah, they did not care about the quality of any show they had.”
Charles Barkley shares that sentiment. He has already publicly blasted ESPN for their narratives, most recently for trying to make Anthony Edwards the new face of the league.
Barkley has never held back his criticism of the network, calling out their obsession with big markets like the Lakers while ignoring small-market contenders who are legitimately in the title mix. He’s also gone after ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins on-air, ridiculing him for his takes and suggesting he doesn’t offer anything insightful to the coverage.
Fans and critics largely agree. ESPN’s NBA studio segments have long been panned as stale, overstructured, and superficial, especially when compared to the vibrant energy Inside the NBA brings.
A glaring example came during Game 1 of last year’s Finals, where ESPN’s halftime crew reportedly got less than 90 seconds of actual talk time due to commercial overload. Simmons rightly points out that unless this formula is scrapped, even legends like Chuck, Shaq, and Kenny won’t be able to save the show.
What makes this more than just a technical concern is the emotional attachment millions of fans have to Inside the NBA. Early reports indicated Shaq and Kenny weren’t even guaranteed in the contract. That only deepens fears that ESPN could strip the show for parts rather than preserve its identity.
In the end, Simmons’ rant is a warning shot. If ESPN wants to make the most of its new NBA deal, it needs to step aside and let Inside the NBA be itself. No scripted bits. No neutered segments. Just the unfiltered brilliance of Chuck, Shaq, Kenny, and EJ, or don’t bother at all.
