Charles Barkley has been vocal over the past few months about his frustration with TNT not getting a deal done to retain their NBA rights, and with the league set to finalize contracts with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon next week, TNT will have a short window to decide whether to match or not.
Either way, Barkley has said next year will be his last on television, making his retirement announcement public during the Finals while doing postgame work for NBA TV. Some posited that was Barkley being worn down by the entire process, but on Thursday he said his decision hasn’t changed in an interview with CNBC while in Lake Tahoe for a golf tournament. Barkley said he hopes they end up matching the deal but feels in his heart they’ve lost the rights, once again lamenting the decision and its impact on the people that work at Turner behind the scenes.
Charles Barkley on his retirement announcement: "I wouldn’t feel comfortable going to work for another network." pic.twitter.com/tfaUeYUqI2
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 11, 2024
Barkley also stated that he wouldn’t “feel comfortable” working for another network, pointing out Turner’s the only media company he’s worked for and he doesn’t want to have to learn another one. When asked in a followup if there’s a number another network could offer that would change his mind, Chuck smirked and delivered a great one-liner, noting “Hey, if I don’t have enough money by now, I’m the biggest idiot/fool in the world.”
We’ll see if this is all part of a posturing effort to push TNT into matching or keeping Inside the NBA on the air as a TNT production without game rights. Turner will likely remain in charge of NBA TV and NBA.com, and they continue to invest heavily in other sports, so they could very well just make Inside part of their weekly schedule. It’s also possible someone like Amazon could contract out TNT to produce Inside in their Atlanta studios and just broadcast it for Amazon.
However, that all may be wishful thinking and the end of the best studio in sports really is coming in 2025. Barkley insists his mind won’t change, even if the other networks will do their best to get him to reconsider his stance.
