Charles Barkley called it before it was official. Inside the NNBA’s comeback won’t be as regular as we’re used to. ESPN’s schedule for the 2025-26 season confirmed only two episodes on the opening day and on the Christmas games. So, what about the rest of the season? Shaquille O’Neal came through with some needed reassurance for fans. That is despite the fact that Chuck previously warned that the format TNT was trying to stick to was “stupid.” And while Barkley strongly disapproved of the pilot, O’Neal has presented a different picture.

Last month, when ESPN dropped its schedule for the 2025-26 season, Shaq was in Los Angeles for the Harold and Carole Pump Foundation gala. Besides seeing Spike Lee get honored with a lifetime achievement award and Robin Thicke perform, O’Neal caught up with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson at the red carpet.

Because the wounds were fresh, Robinson asked the big guy about the Inside Guys’ plans for the “downtime” when they’re not on ESPN. As he’s been throughout the NBA media rights saga, Shaq was positive about what’s coming. “Oh, we have a special show that we’re going to be shooting once or twice a week. So, you will definitely be seeing us.”

Chatter about this show has been going on since Chuck called off retirement. After the Turner Sports lost the NBA to NBC and Amazon, the execs assured Barkley they will work something out if he stays on. After the show was licensed to ESPN, the first signs of trouble showed when Chuck confirmed on interviews that they had filmed a pilot.

Fans were worried about how much airtime Shaq, Chuck, Kenny, and Ernie would get at ESPN.  Their fears came true when the ESPN schedule was released.

O’Neal didn’t specify what the new spin-off is about. He didn’t sound too worried about it. Back in May he made Inside the NBA’s position clear shifting to ESPN.

“I don’t have any concerns because I know one guy that you’re never going to change, and I know another guy that’s really close to him,” referring to Chuck and himself. He also called Ernie Johnson and Kenny “the Jet” Smith professionals and said he and Chuck have no intention to change their unfiltered style. “Chuck’s not changing, I’m not changing.”

“I actually saw something yesterday where it said ESPN is going to give us the same no-look that they give Pat McAfee. So, listen, we’re just going to go have fun, do what we do and talk about the game that we love and just try to make people laugh,” O’Neal had said months earlier to Rich Eisen.

Shaquille O’Neal’s been the biggest beacon of hope for fans who are already suffering from Inside the NBA withdrawal symptoms. His statement is the only positive bit of news we can cling on to because Chuck’s being realistic.

Charles Barkley is not as optimistic as Shaquille O’Neal

Throughout the entire NBA media rights saga, Charles Barkley made it very clear he was upset with TNT. He may have chosen to stay with them but made it a public point to tell them they messed up by keeping the main crew in the dark. They were not only locked out of the negotiation process, Chuck revealed they founded out they were traded to ESPN from their ESPN friends after the news was public.

But even out of the loop, Chuck had no misconceptions about how the move to ESPN was going to go. Which is when he gave his blunt opinion on the pilot for the upcoming show.

“TNT is trying to do something stupid behind the scenes,” Barkley said in June. “We taped a pilot about a month ago and it was the stupidest s— I’ve ever seen in my life. ‘Cause we’re not gonna be on ESPN as much as people think … we’re only probably gonna be working for ESPN like half the time to one-third of the time. So I think TNT wants to do something, and we taped a pilot about a month ago and it was the stupidest s— ever.”

Chuck confirmed there will be two versions of Inside the NBA on TNT and ESPN. The TNT version will be missing all the NBA highlights. Which is why Turners Sports are trying something different which Chuck isn’t necessarily on board with it.

“But they’re trying to do something stupid at TNT. Which is a stupid idea for a couple reasons. Number one, we won’t have basketball highlights. But also, we’re probably gonna be going up against an NBA game. And anybody who likes basketball, they ain’t gonna say, ‘Hey, you know what? Let me turn off a NBA game on Amazon, ESPN or NBC to go watch these four dudes sit around and talk about nothing.’ So it’s complicated. We taped a pilot doing stupid stuff and it was just stupid stuff. I wouldn’t want to go out like that.”

It sounds like Shaq is satisfied as long as he gets to work with Chuck, Ernie, and Kenny while Chuckster is worried about the new format. It’ll fall on fans to adjust their expectations and take small consolation in the fact that there will be plenty of Inside the NBA between the season opener and Christmas.