It was the deal that saved the most beloved show in sports. When TNT lost its NBA broadcast rights in a stunning media shakeup, fans everywhere feared the end of Inside the NBA. But then came a lifeline: ESPN swooped in, licensing the legendary show and ensuring Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson would remain together. For basketball fans, it felt like a miracle. But for Barkley? Relief has quickly turned into something else: worry.
That worry? It recently shot through the roof thanks to a disastrous attempt from TNT to cook up a new show concept. In a brutally honest interview on the Pardon My Take podcast, Barkley spilled the beans—revealing the network actually had them film a pilot for a new show that was nothing short of a trainwreck. “We taped a pilot and it was a s— pilot,” Barkley said bluntly. “So, we did like four segments. One segment was Kenny doing fashion—One, we did axe throwing, and then we did finger painting.”
The experience was so mind-bogglingly bad that the entire crew knew, right then and there, they had a dud on their hands. “When we walked out the studio that night, we’re like, ‘That’s the stupidest s— we’ve ever done,’” he recalled. For Barkley, this hit a raw nerve—it’s his absolute biggest fear with TNT— “I don’t want them doing something stupid with our show that people like, ‘Man, they really ruined that show.’” To their credit, he admitted, TNT eventually agreed the pilot was awful and mercifully shelved it.
But even with that concept crashing and burning, Barkley’s anxiety hasn’t vanished—it’s merely shifted. Now, his gaze is fixed squarely on his new partners at ESPN. So what’s his biggest fear with the new deal? That Inside the NBA will be forced to fight for precious airtime with ESPN’s own massive flagship program, SportsCenter. Moreover, for decades, Inside the NBA has thrived on creative freedom. Loose, unscripted, chaotic—and wildly entertaining. But Barkley worries ESPN’s rigid broadcast structure could suffocate that. “Normally the number one time on our show is after the game. We get like 45 minutes to shoot the s—,” he explained. “But me and Ernie have talked about it. Like, are we going to get to do that? Or are they going to say, ‘We gotta go to SportsCenter?’” It’s a totally legitimate question. For years, that unscripted, often chaotic postgame segment has been the very heart and soul of the show. The worst part is that, right now, the hosts themselves have absolutely no clue what their show will even look like.
And Barkley’s not alone in these worries. His co-host, Kenny Smith, has publicly aired his own questions about what the new time constraints will be. “Are we a half hour now? Are we forty-five minutes? Fifteen minutes?” Smith asked. Even sharp media commentators like Bomani Jones and Bill Simmons have weighed in, pointing out that ESPN “historically has not done postgame shows,” a fact that leaves many wondering how these two iconic brands will truly manage to coexist.
In fact, the sheer uncertainty surrounding the show’s future only amplified Barkley’s frustration with how TNT handled the entire transition. According to Barkley, the way their bosses at TNT handled the transitioning to ESPN situation was nothing short of “awful.” He revealed that he and his colleagues were kept completely in the dark. “They did an awful job keeping us abreast,” Barkley said on the same episode of Pardon My Take. “We were playing golf in the middle of the playoffs and we were reading the internet to find out if we were going to get fired or not. And I was like TNT, our bosses, they suck, plain and simple—there’s a way you treat people.” The disrespect, he said, was absolutely staggering. In fact, he found out that the show had been licensed to ESPN not from his own bosses, but from a sudden flurry of congratulatory text messages from his new colleagues. “I get a text from Scott Van Pelt, Brian Windhorst, Elle Duncan and Bob Myers welcoming me to the family. I’m like, ‘What family?’” Barkley recalled. “Then, about an hour and a half later, I get a call from TNT that the story broke. I said, ‘Well, you probably could have given us a head’s up. You’ve traded us to ESPN.’” What hurt Barkley most? How Ernie Johnson was treated. “Ernie shouldn’t be finding out from ESPN people or Twitter,” Barkley said. After 35 years at TNT, Johnson is more than just a host—he’s the emotional core of the show. Barkley believes he deserved better. So where does that leave Inside the NBA?
In limbo. The crew remains intact, but the setting is changing. And for Charles Barkley, the question isn’t just whether fans will keep watching. It’s whether ESPN will let them keep being Inside the NBA. “This show is special because it’s us,” Barkley once famously said. “Let us be us. Or don’t do it at all.” The magic was never just in the format—it was in the freedom. Whether that survives the move will determine if Inside the NBA remains a show fans love—or just one they used to.
Fuente: https://www.essentiallysports.com/nba-active-basketball-news-espn-s-silence-deepens-charles-barkley-s-distress-as-new-inside-the-nba-concept-fails/
