One of the biggest off-court stories of the 2024-25 NBA season is the upcoming change in what networks will broadcast games, as this is the final year of the NBA on TNT before Amazon and NBC join ESPN as the league’s national broadcast partners.
Initially, it looked like that would mean an end to Inside the NBA. However, after spending two decades trying in vain to replicate the success of their competitor, ESPN, TNT Sports, and the NBA agreed to a deal that will keep the show on the air, with ESPN licensing the show from TNT, who will continue to produce it from Atlanta. That brought a sigh of relief to many fans, but it quickly became apparent that the announcement had been made before every loose end was tied off.
Charles Barkley continued to muse about leaving for NBC or Amazon, noting ESPN and TNT haven’t given him a schedule yet and he’s not about to end up like other ESPN analysts working constantly. From there, Shaquille O’Neal didn’t have a new deal after this season and was reportedly not happy they announced the show would continue before signing him up long-term. On Thursday, word broke from CNBC’s Alex Sherman that Shaq and Kenny Smith’s situations had, at the least, been resolved, as they were both inking multi-year extensions with TNT Sports.
But, rest assured NBA fans, O’Neal and Smith are coming back. Both are on the verge of re-signing with TNT Sports, CNBC has learned. O’Neal will sign a five-year contract. Smith will ink a multiyear deal, as well. A Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson declined to comment.
Sherman notes that both Shaq and Smith spoke with NBC and Amazon, but ultimately came back home to TNT Sports. With those two back, it would seem to signal the show will indeed go on as planned with ESPN — one would think those two wouldn’t re-sign without at least something approaching a firm plan for their schedule in place. Barkley is forever the wild card, but I also think he just wanted to enjoy the idea of free agency — Chuck knows rule number one is never turn down a free dinner — and had that taken away from him a bit, so he made sure to still get that in his own way.
We’ll find out for certain soon, but Amazon seems to be moving in a much younger direction with their studio show, currently featuring Taylor Rooks, Dirk Nowitzki, and Blake Griffin. As for NBC, Sherman notes they’ll be headed more in a “news magazine” style approach, which will be interesting to see how that comes together, but if the goal is less banter, as Sherman says, I can’t imagine them being serious threats to steal Barkley away. All signs point to Inside continuing as planned on ESPN, with the new networks bringing some fresh talent into the studio show game, all of which should be very good for the NBA.
