TNT
Shaquille O’Neal was brought to tears by a gift he and the rest of the Inside The NBA cast received from the behind-the-scenes crew. Inside the NBA ended its 36-year-long run on TNT over the weekend.
Due to Turner Sports (owned by Warner Bros. Discovery) losing the rights to broadcast the NBA next season — which will now call ESPN/ABC, NBC, and Prime Video its home — that made this season the final year of Inside the NBA on TNT, which officially concluded with the end of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday night.
Over the weekend, tons of Inside the NBA content has flooded the internet — particularly fans recalling their favorite memories and moments from the show. One particularly moving video posted by the series’ official account saw Shaq moved to tears by the gifts that he, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley received from the production: championship rings.
The diamond-studded rings feature the four faces of the group and a demarcation of the 21 Sports Emmys the program won over the years.
“Thanks everybody in this room for everything, for these 25 years. Man we’re so lucky… that was very kind guys, thank you so much” Chuck says in the video.
“This is really special, very thoughtful. This is the greatest family in TV history right here,” Ernie adds as Shaq wiped tears from his face.
Shaq joined Inside the NBA following his retirement from the league during the 2011/12 season and has been a mainstay of the series ever since.
Inside The NBA will continue to air next season with the same core of Shaq, EJ, Kenny and Chuck, albeit ESPN. While the network has promised not to tamper with what makes the iconic NBA pre-and-post-game show so great, fans are weary of its move to the Mouse House-owned channel all the same.