The future of “Inside the NBA” is uncertain, but Charles Barkley estimates there’s a 50 percent chance that Warner Bros. Discovery will keep the show.
Speaking on ESPN 1000’s “Waddle & Silvy,” the basketball Hall of Famer shared his concerns. “We have zero idea what’s going to happen,” Barkley stated. “We might lose it … it is flat-out brutal, everybody’s scared to death.”
The tension stems from the expiration of the exclusive negotiating period between TNT and the NBA. “It’s 50-50 that we lose our part to NBC,” Barkley mentioned, according to Awful Announcing. “Am I concerned? 100 percent, because even though we’ve partnered with the NBA for about 40 years, you would think we’d have an edge in a close bidding war, but that doesn’t seem to be the case… they’re scared to death over here right now.”
Reports suggest that NBCUniversal is ready to offer $2.5 billion to broadcast NBA games on NBC and Peacock.
While Barkley is open to moving networks, he noted that his co-host Ernie Johnson might not be. “I don’t think Ernie would go anywhere, first and foremost,” he said. “But I got to make sure I look out for myself. Like I said, I’m sitting back, listening. I’m gonna see what happens.”
As it stands, the fate of TNT’s “Inside the NBA” remains to be seen.
