Rumors

NBA TV will offer nightly studio coverage of the NBA Finals. GameTime Live at the Finals will feature analysts such as Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith of TNT’s iconic Inside the NBA, as well as Grant Hill, Isiah Thomas, Candace Parker, Steve Smith, Brendan Haywood, and Channing Frye.

Front Office Sports

Charles Barkley joined The Dan Patrick Show Monday morning and said he committed to doing two more years with TNT, and subsequently ESPN. But with Inside the NBA set to air on ESPN, TNT is building a show featuring Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal and Ernie Johnson that will air on their network. And according to Barkley, it’s not going well.

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“TNT is trying to do something stupid behind the scenes,” Barkley told Patrick. “We taped a pilot about a month ago and it was the stupidest sh*t I’ve ever seen in my life. Cause we’re not gonna be on ESPN as much as people think…we’re only probably gonna be working for ESPN like half the time.”

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Barkley said the new installment of Inside the NBA will be called Inside the NBA on ESPN/ABC and told Patrick the pilot for TNT was also called Inside the NBA. But Outside the NBA might be a better name for the pending TNT show. “You know the thing that was hilarious about it, Dan? We didn’t have any NBA,” Barkley said of the pilot. “We can’t show highlights.”

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NBA on TNT: “Thibodeau wouldn’t play nine guys in a baseball game.” 😅

Twitter

That situation has settled down in recent months. Barkley is still under contract to TNT under a mammoth 10-year, $210 million extension signed in 2022. FOS broke the news that Shaquille O’Neal had signed a long-term extension worth $15 million a year. Both Kenny Smith and host Ernie Johnson are expected to return as well, say sources.

Front Office Sports

How do you feel about the move to ESPN? Kenny Smith: We have the same crew of people doing the show. But the timing: are we a half hour now? Are we forty-five minutes? Fifteen minutes? Those are the things that you can control when you own your I.P. But we don’t. That was the only part that made me uncomfortable and disheartened, because I felt that the four of us should have went into ABC to negotiate that deal. I’m not saying that our executives don’t know how to do that, but we are the I.P. now. Ultimately, it’s a classic show, like “Seinfeld,” so it will translate.

The New Yorker

You’re a spokesperson for FanDuel, the online sports-gambling site. Why? Kenny Smith: For a long time, I had been asked to do gambling sites, and then, when the N.B.A. said that gambling was legal and part of their thing, that’s when I said, “O.K. If you’re saying it’s O.K., then it’s O.K.” You don’t feel a tension between being an N.B.A. analyst and a sports-wagering spokesperson? Kenny Smith: KS: I’ve never looked at a spread of a game in my life. Well, the only time I look at the spread of the game is when I’m sitting next to Charles during March Madness, because we bet on teams. We don’t know anything about Drexel versus Georgia State, so we do the line. Fifty a game.

The New Yorker

During an appearance on NBA on TNT on Tuesday night, Pritchard opened up about his achievement while talking with Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. “I mean, it's just a lot of people in the Celtics organization,” Pritchard said when asked what it's like to be the latest Boston player to win the award that is also named after one of the greatest players of the franchise. “Obviously, John Havlicek being named…Kevin McHale. Obviously, a couple of other guys, Malcolm Brogdon. When I was here with him, I watched him win it. Yeah, Bill Walton. So, yeah, this is definitely an honor.”

Clutch Points

Billy Ray Bates, who played in the NBA from 1979 to 1983 with the Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Bullets, and Los Angeles Lakers, was also on the list. This prompted Barkley to mention Bates, questioning whether he was still alive. “I wonder if he is still alive,” said Barkley as he looked at the graphic. While both Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson were largely condemning Barkley for even asking the question on live television, Shaquille O’Neal interjected by claiming that Bates had died.

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During the NBA on TNT postgame show, they put a graphic on the screen that showed Ty Jerome’s 28 points, which were the fourth-most points scored by a player coming off the bench in a playoff debut. Jerome sat right behind Billy Ray Bates, who scored 29 points off the bench in 1980. “I wonder if he’s still alive?” Charles Barkley bluntly asked about Billy Ray Bates, a question that was met with immediate silence as Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith could be seen shaking their heads in disbelief.

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Barkley quickly doubled down, insisting, “It’s a fair question!” with a chuckle. “Not on national television!” Smith said. “Maybe under your breath. Maybe Google it.” “Not unless you know the answer,” Johnson added to dispute Barkley’s claim that it was a fair question. “You do not need to ask a question like that.” Smith could be heard saying “unfortunately…” in the background as Shaquille O’Neal interjected to say Billy Ray Bates had “passed away.”

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“Are you following everybody?” Patrick asked, seemingly looking to confirm Johnson will join Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaq in bringing Inside the NBA to ESPN next season. “Yeah, this is the plan,” Johnson said. “We’re gonna continue to do the show. But it’s just not gonna air on TNT because the NBA on TNT is no more after these playoffs. But we’ll still do the show in Atlanta; still do it with the same production crew; it will just air on ABC/ESPN on certain nights.”

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The show’s core of host Ernie Johnson and analysts Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith will presumably remain intact. But former ESPN president John Skipper said Friday he believes they’ll be joined “at some point” by Stephen A. Smith. Of course, the moment ESPN obtained rights to air the show last month, speculation began Smith might become part of the mix. ESPN content president Burke Magnus recently dispelled that notion. He recently told Sports Illustrated‘s Jimmy Traina that ESPN had “no plans” to add Smith to the show, adding, “We don’t want to change it. We don’t want to interject new talent into it. We don’t want to really do anything to it.”

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