The NBA season has just begun but Inside the NBA is in midseason form already! Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson just provide such great entertainment, thanks to their fantastic chemistry as a group, that it makes their show easily the best on sports television right now.
We heard some good news before the season even began, as all four men signed long-term contracts to stay with TNT. Barkley, in particular, is reported to have signed a deal close to $200 million and Shaquille O’Neal hilariously revealed that he now has a new nickname for Chuck.
Shaquille O’Neal Hilariously Bet Charles Barkley $10,000
Among all the stars, Charles is easily the biggest one, and there are more hilarious Chuck moments on the show than anything else. They recently had the iconic ‘Who He Play For?’ segment where Barkley failed to correctly link anybody as he often does, and it led to plenty of laughs. On last night’s show, Barkley said that the two games they had were spectacular, which led to Shaquille O’Neal telling him to spell the word.
(starts at 0:37 mark):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tQ8RlhOKQ0
Barkley needed a paper to write it down, but he managed to get it right this time around. His education is another hilarious talking point on the show, and Johnson had once asked him what his college major was, to which Barkley replied that it was music appreciation.
Charles is a national treasure, and we hope he stays around on television for a very long time. The jokes aside, Barkley did get serious when talking about basketball. He said that he hasn’t been impressed with the Dallas Mavericks this season, as it is still the same offense as last year, where Luka has the ball all the time.
The Mavs surprisingly lost to the Pelicans last night despite Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram not playing, which is a concern. They seem to have made a fine addition in Christian Wood, but the roster still seems to be lacking some talent. Their failure to adequately replace Jalen Brunson from last season might end up being what holds Dallas back this season, as the Western Conference is just loaded with talent at this point. If they had Brunson, then perhaps they could have made some noise, but without him, this team doesn’t have a high ceiling and will fall short in their quest of winning their first title since 2011.
