Shaquille O’Neal has seemingly put an end to speculation surrounding his future by agreeing to a long-term deal with TNT Sports. According to Front Office Sports, O’Neal has an agreement in place with TNT on a deal that’ll pay him over $15 million a year.
It was previously reported that O’Neal was frustrated about not having a contract beyond this season and he has finally got one now. The 52-year-old joined TNT in July 2011, just over a month after he announced his retirement from the NBA. He has been a staple on Inside The NBA ever since and will now continue to be so for the foreseeable future as it enters a new chapter.
With TNT losing out in the NBA media rights race to ESPN, NBC, and Amazon last year, it looked like the Emmy Award-winning show would be chopped after the 2024-25 season. Fortunately, that won’t be the case.
TNT decided to license Inside The NBA to ESPN and ABC from the 2025-26 season in exchange for Big 12 conference college football and basketball games. While that was great news, there remained some doubt on the futures of the show’s stars. It looks like they’ll all be staying, though.
Charles Barkley signed a 10-year, $210 million deal with TNT in 2022 but announced during the 2024 NBA Finals that he’d be retiring the following year. Barkley made a U-turn soon, however, and stated he was sticking around long-term. It turns out, though, that he was negotiating with other networks. During an episode of his Steam Room podcast, Barkley revealed he is turning down offers from NBC and Amazon.
“I’m informing NBC that I will not accept their offer. I’m gonna cancel future meetings with Amazon… My heart is always and will be at Turner Sports.”
As for Kenny Smith, Front Office Sports reports he is also expected to sign a multi-year deal to remain with TNT. Smith joined the show full-time all the way back in 1998 and is the second-longest tenured member after host Ernie Johnson.
Johnson, who has been hosting the show since 1990, was the only one whose future with the network was never really in doubt. Front Office Sports states he is viewed as a TNT lifer and he must be delighted that his co-stars are sticking around with him.
Getting back to O’Neal, the timing of this report coming out is quite interesting. Why? Well, it was just on Thursday’s episode of Inside The NBA that O’Neal joked that the crew was going to get fired.
“In the words of Marshawn Lynch, I’m tired as sh*t, America,” O’Neal. “We are getting fired anyway, Ernie. Fu*k it.”
Shaq:
"In the words of Marshawn Lynch, I'm tired as sh*t, America. We are getting fired anyway, Ernie. Fu*k it.” 😂😂😂😂
(h/t @ohnohedidnt24)
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) February 14, 2025
Well, it turns out that not only is O’Neal not being fired, but he is getting a fat new deal too. You’d imagine his bosses wouldn’t be all too pleased by the cursing there, but we’ve seen a fair few curse words dropped on the show over the years by now. That’ll continue to be the case moving forward, too.
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