© Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
If you’re a fan of Charles Barkley and Inside the NBA, you’d better enjoy the show before Barkley decides to retire. Over the weekend, the Inside The NBA crew said goodbye to NBA games being aired on TNT.
Next season, Inside the NBA will air on ESPN, but will still be produced by TNT. However, as of now, it’s unclear how things will work out.
“We’re probably going to work on ESPN one-third or half the time,” Barkley said. “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 a NBA game. And anybody who likes basketball, they’re not 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’ …we taped a pilot doing stupid stuff and it was just stupid stuff. I wouldn’t want to go out like that.”
“We taped a pilot about a month ago, and it was the stupidest s**t I’ve ever seen in my life.” 😅
– Charles Barkley discusses the plan for Inside the NBA on TNT, despite not having the rights to NBA footage. pic.twitter.com/bdZwOza2Nn
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) June 2, 2025
According to Barkley, he plans to stay on for only the next two years before moving on from the show, despite having a seven-year contract with TNT.
“I said, ‘I’ll give you two years.’ They said, ‘Can we get three?’ I said, ‘I just told you I was going to do two.’… This is the TNT people because I think my contract technically is still with TNT, but I’m going to be a good soldier.”
Charles Barkley on Inside the NBA moving to ESPN:
“I’m gonna be a good soldier for Kenny, Ernie, and Shaq, and the people I work with… But the best I can do is 2 years.”
(via @dpshow)pic.twitter.com/STqT7jZjLV
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) June 2, 2025