Broadcast changes often stir conversations across basketball media. Shaquille O’Neal and the Inside the NBA crew felt it when they moved from TNT to ESPN in 2025. Looking at the present, the LA Lakers legend’s candid reflection could easily raise some eyebrows. There is chemistry and honesty within the studio walls. Debates are as heated as they used to be. But criticism, and people’s way of perceiving, feels like a generation shift.

“My only concern is, ESPN is a big company. Will they let Chuck get away with some of that stuff he gets away with? Like talking about the big women of San Antonio,” Shaquille O’Neal expressed on expediTIously with Tip T.I. Harris.

Now, we know how Charles Barkley always has the “big ol’ San Antonio” joke up his sleeves for decades. He even went on to make comments on the plus-sized women of the city on The Stephen A. Smith Show earlier in 2025. However, those jokes have seemingly come to an end. Meanwhile, Shaquille O’Neal, who, just like Barkley, is an outspoken person, is trying to understand human sentiments before speaking.

He explained to T.I., “I have to take a step back sometimes and realize that this new generation is a little bit sensitive. And what, especially, you and myself, what we use as motivation.”

O’Neal added, “Like you and myself, we’ve always had the ability to take criticism and say, ‘Oh, okay. You don’t think I don’t think I’m hot? Turn it up.’ But these guys these days, when you say something, they get all sensitive. They want to grab their phones. They want to get on their own little podcast, so they start talking trash.”

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

In 2024, O’Neal faced considerable backlash online after making comments about Angel Reese’s ‘littles shorts’ on her podcast: Oh My God. Social media users flooded timelines with messages claiming that Shaq taught Angel Reese a painful lesson about men in real time. Probably, this incident was more than enough for the retired legend to understand not always speak his mind.

Most importantly, Shaquille O’Neal’s confession about the ESPN situation comes at a time when Charles Barkley announced a break from his Inside the NBA duties.

Charles Barkley makes a hiatus announcement

Ahead of the 2025–26 season, ESPN revealed that Inside the NBA would air only 20 episodes and follow a reduced early schedule, a move that sparked frustration from Charles Barkley. “We’ve only been on ESPN, I think, four times in three months,” Chuck said on The Dan Le Batard Show last month. “We were off all of December to Christmas, and we’re off all of January until the 24th. I don’t like that at all.”

Barkley conveyed clear frustration while adjusting to the network’s revised workload. He suggested the schedule shift more responsibilities toward the later part of the season. Meanwhile, he reflected on working three days in one week after spending 25 years handling mostly one weekly appearance. Then he made an announcement.

“It’s heavily backloaded. I think next week we work three days in a row, then another three days in a row, and then I take a sabbatical for March Madness. But I wish they had spread it out more, to be honest with you,” Chuck said on The Next Round podcast.

Now, the audience’s perception has changed, and so has the way of conveying messages in today’s media. Both Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley are feeling the shift as they are learning about the new “sensitive” generation.