Charles Barkley is confused, somber and, most of all, angry that TNT is about to lose its rights to the NBA and the ability to do his beloved “Inside the NBA” show with it.
It was reported Tuesday that the NBA is close to finalizing its new media rights deals with Disney/ESPN, NBC and Amazon, which would leave TNT without NBA games for the first time in more than two decades. Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery can reportedly match NBC’s package, but it seems unlikely it will succeed.
It was in that context that Barkley appeared on “The Dan Patrick Show” and cemented himself in the leadership that is walking the NBA out the door. He said morale is understandably low at TNT and complained that WBD chose to acquire rights to College Football Playoff games instead:
“Morals suck, plain and simple. I just feel so sorry for the people I work with, Dan. These people have families and I really feel sorry for them right now. The people I work with have clearly screwed this up, and we have no idea what’s going to happen. I am not feeling well. I’m not going to lie, especially when they came out yesterday and said we bought college football. I thought, ‘Damn, they could have used that money to buy the NBA.’
“Inside the NBA” remains one of the most popular studio shows in all of sports, with Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal providing blunt analysis and more laughs than any of their competitors.
Barkley has said in the past that his contract allows him to become a free agent if TNT loses his NBA rights, but he suggested Patrick take it a step further and take over the entire show through his production company. Once again he had a choice word for his bosses, plus an esoteric wine analogy:
“I’ve been talking to the guys about everyone signing to my production company, because I have my own production company, and I would love to do that if we lose it. Actually, to be honest, someone suggested it to me on the internet. Why doesn’t Charles Barkley sign these three guys, four guys in total, it’s his production company, and sell it? I think: that’s a great idea. But like I said, we’re just going to sit back and wait for these people to figure out what they’re going to do.
“My two favorite wines are Inglenook and Opus. These clowns I work for made us Ripple and Boone’s Farm and Thunderbird.”
A major problem with that idea is Johnson, as the longtime broadcaster reportedly plans to stay with TNT even if it loses the NBA.
Barkley further speculated that Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav. Discovery, angered NBA Commissioner Adam Silver by saying, “We don’t need to have the NBA” in 2022. At the very least, it was a bad omen with media rights negotiations looming and WBD looking to cut costs.
Barkley is most angry at the people who worked on ‘Inside the NBA’ for years:
“I am [angry] You know, Dan, it’s so interesting. I’ve been spending a lot of time with the crew lately. I’ve been with these guys where I’ve spent time with them – they bring their newborns, they bring their kids, they come in like they were in high school and now they’ve graduated from college. So long. Ernie’s been there 32 years, Kenny’s been there 27 years, I’ve been there 24 years, but think about that. Some of these people I work with brought their newborn children to say hi to us, they took them to high school when they graduated, and now they’ve already graduated.
“So yeah, I’m mad at people; they’re part of my family, to be honest. And I feel sorry for those guys.
