This season marks the final year of the NBA on TNT for the foreseeable future, as Turner Sports lost the bidding war for the NBA's television rights in the new media deal that is set to begin in the 2025-26 season.
This means that one of the greatest sports television shows ever, Inside the NBA, is in its final season with the incredible cast of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal.
Barkley has never been one who is afraid to cross the conventional television line for entertainment's sake, and Thursday night was no different. As the show went on the air following late-night NBA action, Barkley made it known that he and Smith were walking out of the studio by no later than 1 a.m. ET.
"It's 12:29 [a.m.]," Barkley said.
"Oh, we outta here by one," Smith chimed in.
"We walking out of here at one o'clock," Barkley reiterated.
"If you don't walk with me..." Smith added.
"I've got you, brother," Barkley said with a smile and a fist bump. "What're they gonna do? Fire us?" Barkley asked as the production crew off set erupted in laughter.
"12:29... We're walking out of here at 1 o'clock... What are they gonna do, fire us?" - Charles Barkley pic.twitter.com/U65GDIy545
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 25, 2024
Johnson, Smith and O'Neal could hardly contain their laughter as well in another iconic moment in a long list of them for Inside the NBA. It's shaping up to be quite the final season for the popular NBA program.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Charles Barkley Cracks Timely Joke About NBA Broadcast Rights on 'Inside the NBA'.
