Don't Rule Out Charles Barkley and 'Inside the NBA' Going to ESPN | Bobby Burack

Next season could be the final year for "Inside the NBA," the universally acclaimed, Emmy-award-winning studio program on TNT. The NBA is close to completing rights deals with Disney, Amazon, and Comcast – leaving TNT parent company Warner Bros. Discovery out of the mix. 

Granted, the deals are not yet finalized and reports say TNT could reportedly threaten legal action over a much-disputed matching clause. 

Nonetheless, "Inside the NBA" star Charles Barkley is already planning -- and speaking about – life after TNT. 

Barkley, who can opt out of his contract with TNT should the network lose the NBA, recently told Dan Patrick that he has discussed with co-analysts Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith the possibility of reconstituting the show at his own production company.

"I have my own production company, I would love to do that if [TNT] loses [NBA rights]," Barkley said. "But I have definitely had — actually somebody suggested that to me, to be honest with you, on the internet — ‘so why doesn’t Charles Barkley sign these three guys, four guys total, to his production company and sell it?’ I’m like, ‘That’s a great idea.'"

Barkley could air the show digitally or license the product to an NBA partner. Fans of the show and media reports have already discussed what a reconstructed version of the show would look like on NBC or Amazon, both of which will need to create studio programming if they acquire the NBA.

However, sources within the industry tell OutKick not to rule out ESPN/ABC. 

While ESPN is in cost-cutting mode – see the 20 to 30 talent layoffs last June – chairman Jimmy Pitaro has always made exceptions for ready-made, big-name stars. 

Despite laying off 20 to 30 talents last June, Pitaro turned around and signed Pat McAfee for $17 million a year two months later.  He also outbid the market for Troy Aikman ($18 million a year) and Joe Buck ($15 million a year) in 2022 to improve the much-maligned Monday Night Football booth. Pitaro then outbid NBC, Amazon, and CBS for Jason Kelce last month. 

Barkley is a star on the same level as McAfee, Aikman, Buck, and Kelce.

And despite the ratings disparity, the NBA is just as important to ESPN as the NFL is. For context, Disney has reportedly agreed to pay the NBA around $2.6 billion a year, around the same price ESPN pays for the NFL.

INDIANAPOLIS - Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley from TNT talk as a part of State Farm All-Star Saturday Night on Saturday, February 17, 2024 at Lucas Oil Stadium. (Photo by Brandon Todd/NBAE via Getty Images)

While, historically, ESPN would never license (as opposed to owning an operating) a show to air, it already made the exception with the "Pat McAfee Show" last year.

ESPN made another exception with Aikman and Buck by not making them appear on other ESPN properties, the norm for most full-time talents. 

The same exceptions would have to and would apply to Barkely and crew.

Moreover, the plan for ESPN/ABC is to retain the "A" package that includes the conference final and the NBA Finals per year. The other two partners (which, in this hypothetical, are NBC and Amazon) would rotate the other conference final every other year.

Note: Barkley has never worked an NBA Finals or an "A" package. That would likely appeal to him.

Now, there are questions about how a deal between ESPN and Barkley would work. But then we started to dig deeper…

ESPN would face internal and external pushback if it replaced current NBA studio host Malika Andrews, a 29-year-old black woman, with "Inside the NBA" host Ernie Johnson, a 67-year-old white man.

However, Stephen A. Smith recently said on his podcast that Johnson may stay at TNT, even if the network loses the NBA. Sports Business Journal reported the same. 

Speaking of Stephen A., he is the face of ESPN's NBA coverage. He is the star of "NBA Countdown." He's approaching a contract year in which sources say he plans to negotiate a contract worth around $20 million a year.

Would  Stephen A. willingly step aside for Barkley, Shaq, and Kenny? Probably not. 

But he speaks openly about his relationships with the three of them. Given that "Inside the NBA" routinely adds a fourth analyst to the set – this year, that analyst is Draymond Green – there's no reason Stephen A. could not join Barkley, Shaq, and Kenny as the full-time fourth member. 

In fact, Stephen A. crossed over with the TNT crew during the In-Season Tournament weekend last December. The potential is there:

Finally, "Inside the NBA" is best known for its banter after the games. In the past, ESPN has been reluctant to air an NBA postgame show because it preferred to air "SportsCenter." ESPN eventually introduced "SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt" as its de-facto postgame show for all major events.

But, again, times have changed.

Van Pelt said last year that he does not plan to continue hosting the show at midnight. "No chance I’m doing [the show in three years]," he told SI.

So, you see, the obstacles that would seemingly complicate a Barkely-ESPN relationship, all of a sudden, do not appear to be obstacles.

ESPN/ABC offers the best games; the most viewers; the NBA Finals; and, based on recent trends, the most money. 

On the surface, ESPN is the best fit for Barkley and "Inside the NBA," or whatever the show will be named post-TNT. 

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