Rumors

For the first time since 1989, the NBA will not be broadcast on TNT. And while that fact has been clear for some time now, Charles Barkley is still mad about it. Barkley, the star of TNT’s crown jewel, “Inside the NBA,” will still be a part of the league’s national television programming. But it will not, of course, be on TNT; instead, he, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal will occasionally appear on ESPN as part of a licensing deal in which “Inside” will be produced by TNT’s crew but broadcast on ESPN.

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The agreement, while helpful in partially justifying Barkley and Co.’s massive deals with Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT’s parent company), remains a point of great annoyance for the former NBA star. “TNT never came to us like grown folks and said, ‘Hey guys, we’re probably going to lose to NBA,’ which we could have understood,” Barkley said on the ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast. “But I thought they sucked. I told them they sucked. Because there’s a way you treat people. Because if they had came to us and said, ‘Hey, you know what? It’s a lot of money.’ Because, you know, we were paying 1.2 billion dollars a year and it went to 2.5 billion. That’s a lot of money for 11 years. If they had said ‘it’s not a good deal,’ we would have understood. But to let us hear about it — and I’ll tell you something really s—-y about it, too: I found out that we got traded to ESPN from ESPN.”

Clutch Points

What has Carlisle done for you, and what have you done for Carlisle? Lloyd Pierce: Well, I think Rick believes in me. I think he believes in all of our staff. He’s allowed all of us to coach our specific areas and really have a strong presence and voice. We did an exercise a few years ago where we took a word and used it to describe ourselves. He said, ‘I think I’m very resourceful.’ And for me to see him operate as a very resourceful person has been very beneficial. Whether it’s reaching out to [the media], reaching out to an agent with regards to one of our players and trying to help echo the same messaging, or like he did the other day, taking the grandest stage for the Indiana Pacers and making sure he gave a sincere thank you to Ernie Johnson and TNT in their final broadcast call. He’s very resourceful in what to say and how to say it, and when to say it and who to speak to in appropriate times. And our players understand that he’s always thinking ahead. He’s always thinking of advantages and that’s the job. The job isn’t the X’s and O’s. He lets us do a lot of that. But he is great about managing the situations, the moments, the players, the opportunity, and that’s how you earn trust and belief of everyone.

Andscape

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: "I'm playing you in the biopic!" 😆 @TurnerSportsEJ & @RealChalamet finally linked during Game 4 🤝

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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

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.”

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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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On Monday’s edition of Inside the NBA, ahead of the Game 2 matchup between the New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons, we got a positive update of sorts on Bates. Ernie Johnson issued a live apology to Bates’ family on behalf of the entire Inside the NBA cast for the previous night’s comments regarding the former NBA player, who is indeed still alive. “We would like to issue a correction and an apology for something that happened last night on Inside the NBA. We were talking about Billy Ray Bates, who back in 1980, had one of the NBA’s best playoff debuts coming off the bench with 29 points. In the course of our discussion, we passed on some bad information that Billy Ray Bates had passed away. While it was inadvertent, it was also inaccurate, and insensitive, and inexcusable. In short, we screwed up. And we apologize to Billy Ray Bates and his family.”

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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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