The ‘Inside the NBA’ show on TNT has entertained basketball fans for several years. The charismatic crew of Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson Jr. have brought out several laughs and smiles on the viewers’ faces through the pranks and jokes they often play on each other. The end of ‘Inside the NBA’ seems to have neared, as complications have arisen over TNT’s efforts to maintain their media rights. With concerns growing each and every day, one of the members of the crew has come out to make his voice heard on this subject.

A few hours ago, Charles Barkley was captured in public, roaming the streets of New York. It didn’t take long for self-proclaimed ‘NY’s number 1 Street Journalist’, Adam Glyn, to come across the former player. Having interviewed Shaq a few days ago, the journalist proceeded to ask Barkley about the “future of the show”. The Philadelphia 76ers legend replied that though he does not know what comes next, it will be sad to see this decades-long partnership crumble so easily.

“I hope it does” said Barkley when asked if he believes that the show will continue to stay on. “Not just for me, and Kenny, Ernie, and Shaq, but for the real people who work there. It sucks right now to be this stressful”.

The rumors about ‘Inside the NBA’s future first started to make waves in light of a news report put out by ‘The Wall Street Journal’ in mid-April. According to it, NBC’s parent company, Comcast, is more than ready to pay over $2.5 billion annually to acquire the NBA media rights owned by TNT. Warner Bros, the parent company of TNT, is reportedly paying out over $1.5 billion a year to keep the same rights within their fold.

If there wasn’t already enough intrigue, a recent revelation has revealed that the NBA and Amazon Prime Video are reportedly in a process of coming with an agreement that will give the latter a “significant number of regular and postseason games” for almost ten years! With two prominent media powerhouses vying to corner the basketball sector, Warner Bros and TNT are literally stuck between a ‘rock and a hard place.’ According to sportswriter Bill Simmons, NBC has already locked up the TV rights in all but name. Furthermore, he claimed that the announcement is being delayed until the ongoing NBA playoffs come to an end.

The closure of ‘Inside the NBA’ will bring a momentous era to an end. Not only will it affect the jobs of hundreds of people, it will also leave the world of television without the moments of Charles Barkley making an accidental tongue slip up and leaving his co-hosts in hysteria, all the roasts that Shaquille O’Neal made under Barkley and Smith’s expense, etc. This was something that was spoken about in an exclusive interview with Leonard Armato too. On EssentiallySports, Armato said that anyone who takes over the NBA media rights later would be stupid to separate the jovial buddies. 

Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal continue to fight for their TNT show

Under such unforeseen circumstances, many people would have expected the ‘Inside the NBA’ crew to adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach. To their credit, both Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley are doing their part to ensure that TNT still has a fighting chance before NBC or Amazon swoops up their rights.

A few days ago, the former basketball rivals were noticeably absent during a segment of the show. It did not take long for fans on social media and other outlets to start questioning the reason for the same. Amidst all the speculation, sports reporter Michael McCarthy took to his official X account to reveal the real reason. According to him, both Shaq and Charles had traveled to New York City to court ad buyers for the ‘TNT Sports’ Upfront presentation’ that was to be scheduled later. In fact, their presence in New York is the reason why Adam Glyn was able to interview them.

Do you believe that there is a chance that TNT could continue retaining its media rights? Let us know in the comments down below.