Five Major Questions About ‘Inside The NBA’ Getting Licensed To ESPN

After a year of wondering what the future holds for Inside the NBA and the beloved cast that makes up the best studio show in sports, we learned that this will not be the final year of its existence, despite TNT losing rights to NBA games. That is because the league and WBD struck a settlement agreement that will keep WBD and TNT Sports very much a part of the NBA, as they’ll take over some international rights and continue contributing to NBA Digital.

Most notably for fans, they will also continue producing Inside the NBA, but in a stunning twist, the show will get licensed to ESPN. That news was met with plenty of excitement on Saturday night, but it also raises plenty of questions. Here, we’ll go through a handful of the biggest ones we have, as well as what we think will be the answers, even though we will have to wait for official word — and the first year of this partnership to begin — for the real results.

What night(s) will they be on the air?

For years, the full Inside crew has worked on Thursdays, while we’ve seen them more and more often on Tuesdays recently — particularly during NFL season. And even when Chuck, Kenny, and Ernie aren’t working on Tuesdays, Shaq is usually on there with a different cast of characters.

Under the new agreement, the reported national TV schedule will see ESPN broadcast games on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, with ABC continuing its Saturday showcase games. That is a lot of game nights and obviously means the current schedule for the Inside crew will change. I cannot see them agreeing to be on every game day for ESPN, and it would make the most sense to me for them to move to Wednesdays or Fridays and the ABC Saturday showcase games, with ESPN running its Countdown crew for the other ESPN dates.

Will they get a full postgame show (and if so, what happens with SVP’s SportsCenter on those nights)?

While this question also applies to any sort of pregame show and halftime breaks, Inside has turned into an institution because of its postgame show. Currently, postgame duties are handled by Scott Van Pelt as the A-block for his nightly SportsCenter, but it’d be insane for ESPN to license the show out and not actually have Inside the NBA after games. Right now, Inside the NBA runs for … well, kind of however long the guys feel like talking. Their block on the TV guide is for an hour (midnight to 1 a.m.) but if they go long or short, no one really worries about it and they fire up the replay of the game or a movie. I’d expect ESPN to give them a bit more structure for their postgame window, but you don’t go through the trouble of paying to bring the show in just to not use the best part.

Perhaps that will also be a factor in when they are on air, as SVP’s SportsCenter runs Sunday-Thursday, meaning Fridays they would just be bumping a regular SportsCenter rather than preempting SVP’s show on Wednesdays. Plus it’s worth mentioning that Van Pelt does a fantastic job with his postgame show, particularly when he has Tim Legler in the studio and can have a lengthy back-and-forth with him — although Legler has been calling more games this season, unless he gets elevated to the No. 1 booth alongside Mike Breen and Doris Burke, his schedule should be open when, say, the NBA Finals roll around.

There’s still plenty of time to figure out all of these logistics, but there are some fascinating conversations to be had at ESPN involving some of their biggest talent now that they’re licensing Inside. Fortunately, they’ll have the next year to get this all sorted out.

How much will ESPN meddle with a winning formula?

Honestly, this might come down to the details of the agreement. The hope, of course, is that ESPN has very little say in the production and content of the show and is happy to just let the fellas do what they do best. I am less concerned with ESPN trying to force the Inside crew to change what they do (I’m not sure you could even successfully do that if you tried), and more concerned with whether they’ll provide them with the time they’re accustomed to having. The talent obviously is number one, but the second-biggest reason for the success of TNT’s studio show is the space they provide that talent to be themselves and go off on the tangents and conversations that make the show so unique.

ESPN, on the other hand, has historically used its studio shows as a way to wedge in as many commercials as possible. That won’t work, and I can guarantee if they try to get the Inside guys to talk in 30-45 second soundbites for pregame and halftime, they’ll revolt — plus I can already foresee how mad fans would get at ESPN “ruining the show.” I’m fascinated to see how all of this comes together, because it’s not going to be the exact same setup regarding time, but ESPN is going to have to change its approach pretty significantly to make this work.

How much crossover will we see between ESPN talent on Inside the NBA and the Inside crew on ESPN shows?

This goes along with the last question, and I would expect the answer to be “some” but not a lot. For example, I’d expect to see Stephen A. Smith popping up on occasion during the season with the fellas and, very possibly, just outright joining the crew for the NBA Finals. At the very least, this makes his contract negotiations with ESPN a little more interesting, because the network doesn’t need him to be the face of their NBA coverage anymore, while Smith can pivot even farther into wanting to be a face of their NFL coverage.

However, because the Inside guys will remain WBD employees, making appearances on their shows, I don’t think we’ll see them showing up too often on ESPN’s other programs. We already see Barkley do random appearances, so I think those will continue, but I don’t think we’re going to see Shaq suddenly as a regular on First Take. If you don’t believe me, please enjoy one of my favorite recent Inside moments when they all laugh hysterically about how ESPN talent gets overworked and put on every show and every network constantly.

What happens with the current NBA Countdown crew?

By licensing Inside, ESPN has finally found a permanent solution for the revolving door that has been the NBA Countdown desk. No longer do they have to try and put together a star-studded group of personalities in an effort to challenge TNT, but what does that mean for the current group, especially considering they’ll still need a pregame and halftime show for their non-Inside the NBA nights? My guess would be that this will be the last year we see Stephen A. and Michael Wilbon on Countdown. Smith is reportedly pushing for a Monday Night Football gig as part of his contract negotiations, and I can’t imagine Wilbon being particularly interested in being part of the B-team for weekend games — as we’ve said in the past, Wilbon can still have a role on the network’s NBA coverage by focusing on the sorts of sit down interviews with players that he consistently knocks out of the park. Just speculating here, but I think we’ll see the continuation of the NBA Today crossover crew on those Friday and Sunday games on ESPN, with Malika Andrews, Richard Jefferson (who might get moved to calling games full-time), Chiney Ogwumike, and Kendrick Perkins. Bob Myers also could stay in the rotation there, but he also might just get moved to game broadcasts full-time.