The Best ‘Inside The NBA’ Moments Of The 2024 NBA Playoffs So Far

The future of the best sports show on television is very much in doubt, as Warner Bros. Discovery’s bungling of the NBA rights negotiations has left them on the outside looking in as of now. The expectation is that the league will roll with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon as its national broadcast partners, although WBD claims it has match rights that it may or may not use.

That means Inside the NBA is likely in its penultimate season, with one more year on Turner’s contract with the league in 2024-25. After that, no one yet knows what the future holds for Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley in terms of their NBA coverage.

As such, we need to appreciate and enjoy the magic that is TNT’s studio coverage, because while other networks will look to replicate it, there is just never going to be another show exactly like it. What makes it all the more frustrating is that the show has been on fire this postseason, as the guys on the desk and the crew behind the senes seem to be in top form as they wind down the final week or two of their season.

With just 3-6 shows left (depending on how the Western Conference Finals go), we wanted to take a look back at Inside‘s finest moments of the 2024 Playoffs, starting with one that belongs in the Hall of Fame.

“Where they goin’, Chuck?”…”Galveston”

Charles Barkley refusing to give the Pelicans the “1-2-3, Cancun” treatment after Game 3 of their first round series against the Thunder, and instead telling them to drive to Galveston, Texas and “that dirty ass water” became an immediate top-5 Inside the NBA moment. Shaq threw up the lob with “Where they goin’, Chuck?” and Barkley windmilled it home with one of his best all-time rants.

I can’t tell you how many times I or one of my friends has, with no prompting, just said “Where they goin’, Chuck?” and started this exact line of dialogue. The sheer disgust in Chuck’s voice, both about the Pelicans and the city of Galveston, really makes this sing, and he damn near kills Shaq every time he brings up the “dirty ass water.” Credit to Vince Carter for stepping into Kenny’s seat and not missing a beat to prod Chuck along a little further while Shaq is in hysterics, eliciting the “we’re not getting them plane tickets to the beach” from Barkley.

The next night Chuck had to issue an apology to Beyonce’s mom, Tina Knowles — a Galveston native — but couldn’t help but double-down further taking shots at Galveston.

Anthony Edwards Tells Charles Barkley To ‘Bring Ya Ass’ To Minnesota

Postgame player interviews with the guys on set have become part of Inside after the late game, and they often get the player of the game to loosen up and have some good fun — for example, any time they get Nikola Jokic on, the guys (namely Shaq) are able to get the famously mild-mannered MVP to perk up a bit. This happened with a different star after Game 7 of the Timberwolves-Nuggets series, when Anthony Edwards delivered a line that became a rallying cry for the entire state of Minnesota. After Charles Barkley said he hadn’t been up to Minnesota in a long time but TNT now would be making the trip for the Western Conference Finals, Anthony Edwards simply said “Bring Ya Ass!”

Everyone from fans to the governor latched onto that phrase — look at the first letter of every line here as proof of how big of a thing this became — and Chuck even wore “Bring Ya Ass” merch to Game 1.

Kenny Smith Gets A Chair Lift To The Board

Kenny Smith’s run to the video board at halftime has been a bit of a disaster for The Jet this postseason. He proudly proclaimed on night one he wouldn’t lose a race to the board all season, and promptly lost on back-to-back nights to both Shaq and Chuck. From there, he battled the stairs with some stumbles and one outright fall, which had the other three losing their mind.

A couple weeks later, TNT paid all of that off with an incredible bit by delivering on Barkley’s promise to get Kenny a chair lift for the stairs like old folks use.

This also led to another funny (and, in a way, sad) moment when they got rid of it and Barkley joked “times are tough around here,” citing WBD’s issues in rights negotiations.

Barkley’s Victory Lap On ESPN ‘Fools’ For Hyping The Lakers And Warriors

All season, Charles was on a crusade against ESPN constantly talking about the Lakers and Warriors like they were contenders, and after the two teams got bounced from the Play-In and first round of the Playoffs, Barkley cut a promo on the “fools” on the other network.

Draymond Chokes A Fish On Gone Fishin’

The Warriors didn’t make the Playoffs proper, but after their ouster from the Play-In they got sent “Gone Fishin'” and even though Green is a part-time member of the team, he was not spared by the production crew. They took the photo of Green choking out Rudy Gobert from the start of the season and swapped a fish in place of the big Frenchman to the delight of the fellas.

BBL Chuck

After Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, as the guys wrapped up their night of coverage from inside the Target Center, things got real loose right before signing off. The production crew had some fun with the “Bring Ya Ass” stuff, and posted some photoshops of Chuck with various asses, from a donkey to a him in a thong, which prompted Draymond Green to drop a “BBL Chuck” line that had Shaq levitating.

Charles Barkley Reacting To Jalen Williams’ Outfits

The TNT crew often shows guys entering the arena, especially when they are wearing a wild tunnel look, because it always gets a response from Chuck. In the first round, Thunder wing Jalen Williams wore a few things that caused Chuck to blurt out “What the hell?!” as OKC rolled to a sweep of the Pelicans.