When the NBA season ends, it’s a time for everyone – players and TV folks alike – to just chill out. It’s a chance to relax, hang out with family, and just be normal for a bit. Kenny “The Jet” Smith, who pretty much everyone loves in basketball media, has been doing just that. But for a man whose professional life is currently in a state of unprecedented uncertainty, these quiet family moments feel more significant than ever.

So, this week, Kenny gave us a little peek into his private life on Instagram. He shared a photo of his whole family sitting around a long, pretty outdoor table, eating under some twinkling lights. His caption was short and sweet: “Dinner is served.” It looked like a really happy moment, totally far-far away from the TV studio he’s been calling home for ages. But at its very core, it was also a reminder that while Kenny is enjoying family time now, the show that made him a household name, TNT’s Inside the NBA, is on the verge of a massive, landscape-altering change.

After 35 years, TNT’s run as a primary NBA broadcaster is over. The league has agreed to a new, 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal with Disney (ESPN/ABC), NBC, and Amazon, which means TNT is not in the party anymore. The move sent shockwaves through the sports world, not just because it ended a historic partnership, but because it put the future of the most beloved studio show in sports history, Inside the NBA, in jeopardy.

In a landmark deal, ESPN acquired the rights to the show. However, they’ve ensured that the famous crew – Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith – will stay together. The big question is, even if the team’s the same, will the show feel the same? Going from TNT’s laid-back style to ESPN’s more rigid setup is a big change, and the show’s even getting a new logo. As Kenny himself recently explained, it’s not that simple. It’s a period of massive transition, and while the faces will remain the same, fans are understandably apprehensive that the show’s raw, unscripted magic can truly be replicated.

That magic is what has made the show a cultural phenomenon. It’s a show built on the chemistry of its four hosts. A great example of this unscripted brilliance happened in 2021, when the guys were talking about one of the most famous plays in Lakers history: Kobe Bryant’s alley-oop pass to Shaquille O’Neal in the 2000 Western Conference Finals.

Shaq, being Shaq, told a story about how he pointed to his baby son, Shareef, in the crowd right after the dunk. “He was two at the time, and he said ‘Daddy, win,'”. Everyone immediately looked a bit confused, but it was Kenny who called him out. “So his first words, his first sentence was, ‘Daddy, win for me?’ You’re such a liar,” Kenny said, and the whole studio cracked up. A few minutes later, Kenny hit him with the perfect comeback: “I did the math. Shareef was five months old when that game was played.”

It’s those moments—the inside jokes, the friendly roasts, the genuine, off-the-cuff conversations—that fans are afraid of losing. And as it turns out, the cast is worried too.

“It’s uncomfortable”: Kenny Smith and Co. brace for a new era at ESPN

In a recent chat with The New Yorker, Kenny Smith talked about what’s bothering him. “We have the same crew of people doing the show,” he said. “But the timing: are we a half hour now? Are we forty-five minutes? Fifteen minutes? Those are the things that you can control when you own your IP, but we don’t. That was the only part that made me uncomfortable and disheartened.”

His buddy on the show, Charles Barkley, has been even louder about the “uneasiness” he feels. He told Dan Patrick he only plans to work two more years of his huge 10-year deal. “If they start trying to work me too much between ESPN and TNT, I’m just going to walk on home,” he said. It’s a really big change, and even though ESPN has told fans they have “zero plans to change the iconic show’s DNA,” the guys on the show are clearly feeling unsure about what’s next. Someone on the inside agreed, telling Front Office Sports, “ESPN has wanted Barkley and this show for 20 years. Now that they’ve got it, why would they change it?”

But let’s be real, things will be different. How? Well, now the show will likely have to squeeze into ESPN’s much tighter TV schedule. Bill Simmons even warned on his podcast, “Unless they completely change how they do commercials, the show is going to be different and people are going to be pissed. And Barkley and those guys are going to be pissed. And I think it’s going to go badly.” There are also practical problems. How will the show work with Scott Van Pelt’s midnight SportsCenter? What happens if a game is on ABC? Fans might have to flip to ESPN2 just to catch the post-game show.

And the changes at TNT don’t stop there. An internal memo says TNT is also ending its 17-year partnership with NBA Digital. That means they won’t be running NBA TV or NBA.com anymore. It really feels like the end of an era, in every way.

So, this is how it is now. Inside the NBA will keep going, but it won’t be the same. The heart of the show – that wild, surprising magic – will have to figure out how to live in a new, more corporate world. For Kenny Smith, who’s just enjoying a quiet family dinner right now, the future isn’t clear. But one thing’s for sure: when he’s back in the studio next season, it’s going to be a totally new game.