During his playing days, Charles Barkley had fans marveling over his dominance on the basketball court. In this new era of his life, he’s doing the same as an analyst and commentator for TNT’s ‘Inside the NBA.’
But at 58 years old, Chuck knows he is nearing the end of his days on the show.
In a conference call with Jon Lewis of Sports Media, the NBA legend confirmed the rumors about his upcoming retirement, citing that he “doesn’t want to die on tv.”
“It’s been a great, great thing. I love Ernie, Kenny, Shaq and everybody we work with. But I just don’t feel the need to work until the day I die. I don’t, man. I’ll be 61 years old if I finish out my contract. And I don’t want to die on TV. I want to die on the golf course or somewhere fishing. I don’t want to be sitting inside over [by] fat-ass Shaq [waiting] to drop dead.”
At the end of the call, Barkley was asked how much longer he'll continue to be a broadcaster. Barkley, 59, says he has 2 years left on his contract "and that's probably going to be it for me." ….
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) February 15, 2022
This isn’t the first time the guy has spoken candidly about his exit from television. Back in November, he made similar points when asked about his future in media.
“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.”
Of course, the former Suns big man could stay if he wanted to. Many who cover the game are older than Barkley, and even some within his own panel are well past the age of 60.
Still, there is something to be admired about enjoying the fruits of your labor, and Chuck clearly intends to do that as he enters the back end of life.
There is little doubt that his exit will be a tough pill to swallow for fans, but the many great moments he gave us throughout his tenure on TNT will live on forever.
