Earlier this month, ESPN and TNT announced that they would continue Inside the NBA under a licensing agreement that would see TNT continue producing the show from Atlanta but having the show air on ESPN and ABC. That seemingly put an end to the questions about the futures of Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson, but in recent weeks, it’s become clear that there was no clear communication of this agreement to the Inside crew.
Shaq apparently doesn’t have a contract with TNT beyond this year and wasn’t thrilled with the announcement being made public before his contract situation got taken care of. Barkley has spent seemingly every show since cracking jokes about the arrangement and their future home at ESPN, and it’s clear he, like everyone else, isn’t sure what they’ll be asked to do. On Wednesday, Barkley joined the Dan Patrick Show and made it clear that he’s not just along for the ride, explaining that he’s still talking with NBC and Amazon about their studio show plans (11:00 mark of the above video). The big reason for that is neither ESPN nor TNT have provided a schedule for what their new arrangement will look like and Barkley isn’t about to sign up for more work without a renegotiation.
“I’m listening to NBC and Amazon,” Barkley said. “I want to know everything on the table for me before I sign in. I love those guys at ESPN and if we end up there I’m going to do the best I possibly can. First of all, they haven’t even given us any type of schedule whatsoever. But I’d be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t meet with NBC, which I have, and meet with Amazon, which I have. But the number one thing I’ve told everybody, can y’all please get me a damn schedule? Cause nobody knows anything, Dan. … I wanna know how much I’m gonna be working before I make a decision. … I know what Charles do. They not gonna work Charles like no damn dog.”
Now, the initial release from ESPN stated they would broadcast Inside for opening week games, Christmas, ABC showcase games after January 1, the last week of the regular season, the Playoffs, Conference Finals, and Finals. For the most part, that all falls under their current purview with TNT, other than the addition of the Finals — but they all also do at least a couple of nights of Finals work with NBA TV. That said, I do fully understand Barkley’s trepidation, as ESPN will have games happening four nights per week under the reported schedule for next year, and the network has a history of stretching talent thin.
However, what seemed to be clear in the release was that they were not becoming ESPN employees but that they would simply remain with TNT, and the network would license the show with no additional ESPN oversight. Perhaps that has been relayed to Barkley and the rest of the guys, but it’s pretty obvious it has not been communicated clearly enough because Chuck seems to think he’s about to be at the whims of ESPN — which, understandably, he’s not thrilled about. It would probably be smart of ESPN and TNT to figure out what the specifics of the agreement are going to be regarding the Inside schedule and get that to Charles and the rest of the guys in writing to avoid this becoming a real issue. If nothing else, Barkley isn’t about to miss out on the chance to get wined and dined by the other networks and will enjoy at least a bit of the free agency lifestyle until the plan is put in front of him in ink.
