Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith’s Unusual TNT Episode Resurfaces Amid Uncertain Future

NBA on TNT has been with us for over three decades. As the NBA heads for a new media rights deal, Warner Bros. Discovery may no longer feature basketball on the show. While many continue to reel from this development, one emotional fan Ben Kaplan shared a nostalgic story involving Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith on his social media. The story takes us back to an unseen ‘Inside the NBA’ episode when the show didn’t include Charles Barkley. Kaplan shared that the TNT hosts orchestrated a hilarious broadcast for him, pretending that a young player named Kaplan was making his NBA debut, who was just 13 years old then. 

Kaplan shared that it was all thanks to his father. After noticing his son’s obsession with the TNT show, his father emailed the TNT crew to see if they could create a special clip for him. To his surprise, Johnson agreed and orchestrated a fake broadcast. In the clip, Ben became a talented player, likened to Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant, who had just joined the NBA after high school.

The crew was so good at acting that while one member Goerge Karl praised Ben, another member Peter Vecsey even pretended Ben was a drug addict and urged for “drug testing.” They continued the broadcast with seriousness as if 13-year-old Ben were a real NBA player. Now, decades later, Kaplan shared the hilarious story on his social media handle, intriguing many. Here is the post for you to see.

But that’s not all. Ever after all these years, Johnson has not forgotten about Kaplan and wrote a heartwarming response to his post.

Ernie Johnson made a personalized video for Ben Kaplan’s father 

Taking to his X handle, he wrote, “Ben, my friend.  You think you do, but you have no idea what this series of events meant to me. My only explanation for the opportunity and the timing is, as @petermayermusic writes in his song “Loose in the World” is that this was all “the hand of the Divine.” Blessings on you and your family.” 

Years later, Ben decided to reciprocate his father’s love with some help from Johnson. Kaplan shared that this story gave him the idea to organize a memorable gift for his father, who was battling a rare cancer. So, he approached the veteran again through an email. Later, Johnson personally replied, asking for some details about his father. A month later, the sports broadcasting Hall of Famer shared a special personalized clip to show support for Kaplan’s father, who watched the entire video with his wife and family.

He shared that Johnson and his father even exchanged numbers and would sometimes text each other. Kaplan later also had the opportunity to do a podcast with Johnson. His friend Meredith, who learned about the Bar Mitzvah halftime reports, brought them together for a podcast. Kaplan also shared the link on his post.

He also expressed his gratitude to Johnson and confirmed that all the stories people hear about his kindness are indeed true. Now that Kaplan shared his story, we might get to see more such stories. Even if we don’t see the crew’s valuable analysis and hilarious antics, these stories created over so many years will continue to stay alive in people’s hearts.