In the midst of the chaos surrounding Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and its NBA television rights negotiations, Ernie Johnson is stepping away from baseball for the time being.
“I’d like to thank the leadership at TNT Sports for allowing me the time away to take care of a family matter during the baseball season,” Johnson, a longtime TNT host, said in a statement from Warner Bros. “I look forward to returning to the studio for the start of the NBA season.”
Johnson will be replaced by MLB Network’s Greg Amsinger as TBS’ studio host, which starts with the network’s national coverage of the Mets-Yankees Subway Series showdown Tuesday night.
Pedro Martinez, Jimmy Rollins and Curtis Granderson round out the studio team, and TBS will have postseason coverage this fall.
As Johnson revealed his baseball plans, his and TBS’ future with the NBA is murkier.
On Monday, WBD announced they were matching an offer to retain their NBA rights.
“We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them,” TNT’s statement read.
“We’re proud of how we have delivered for basketball fans by providing best-in-class coverage throughout our four-decade partnership with the NBA. In an effort to continue our long-standing partnership, during both exclusive and non-exclusive negotiation periods, we acted in good faith to present strong bids that were fair to both parties.”
However, as The Post’s Ryan Glasspiegel pointed out, this could result in a legal armageddon.
The expectation laid out by Glasspiegel is that TNT would look to match Amazon’s side of the agreement, believing they can compete in both streaming and broadcast.
A legal battle between the two companies would be a disaster if TNT came up short, as the beloved “Inside the NBA” crew of Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neill could be left without a job at TNT and in limbo, waiting for the courts to decide the situation.
Turner has even started a social campaign championing to keep the beloved group together.
Johnson, 67 and based in Atlanta, has been a TNT host since 1990 and is unlikely to jump ship to Amazon or anywhere else.
Meanwhile, Barkley said he would retire after this coming NBA season.