At different points over the last six months, the future of “Inside the NBA” — the studio show featuring host Ernie Johnson and former players Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith — seemed bleak with TNT’s rights deal set to expire following the 2024-25 season and the league headed for Amazon and NBC, in addition to remaining with ESPN, in a new package.
But the network’s beloved pregame and postgame show will survive, with the Wall Street Journal reporting Saturday that ESPN will be licensed to air “Inside the NBA” starting next season to keep the show intact as part of a settlement stemming from Warner Bros. Discovery’s July lawsuit.
It’s unclear at this point how ESPN plans to utilize the show in conjunction — or instead of — its current “NBA Countdown” coverage, but for now, at least, the core of “Inside the NBA” will remain intact once Shaq signs an extension and the show will continue to get produced by TNT, according to The Athletic.
Back in May, though, that didn’t always appear to reflect the most likely scenario.
The 2023-24 campaign ended with TNT seemingly on track to lose its “B” package — which ultimately happened when the NBA announced its 11-year, $77 billion agreements with Disney, NBC and Amazon — and then the outlook only became more dire when the NBA rejected TNT’s decision to match the offer of Amazon.
That led to a lawsuit in July given the NBA’s “unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer,” TNT Sports said in a statement at the time.
There were plenty of other wrinkles along the way that suggested the end of “Inside the NBA” could be nearing, too, from the temporary retirement announcement of Barkley — he later announced that he’s returning to the network despite the uncertainty — to even the tone of discussions while on the air during the postseason.
“Morale sucks,” Barkley said during an appearance on the “The Dan Patrick Show” in May. “Plain and simple. I just feel so bad for the people I work with, Dan. These people have families, and I just really feel bad for them right now. You know, these people I work with, they screwed this thing up clearly, and we don’t have zero idea of what’s going to happen.”
As part of the settlement, TNT Sports can also develop additional shows and will receive global rights for Bleacher Report and House of Highlights — with no additional payments for rights — for the next 11 years, according to the Associated Press.
But for viewers, the most impactful layer revolves around Johnson, around Barkley, around Shaq — as long as he signed an extension — and around Smith.
“Inside the NBA” will continue after all.