Charles Barkley has long been one of the co-hosts of Inside the NBA but, over the last year he had the opportunity to search for employment elsewhere. After TNT struck a deal to license Inside out to ESPN, Barkley fielded offers from other companies. He eventually opted to work with ESPN and maintain duties at TNT as well. Interestingly enough, the basketball hall of famer was also offered a significant amount of cash from NBC, and he didn’t hold back while explaining why turned down the job despite the big paycheck.
This isn’t the first time “Sir Charles” has mentioned that he spoke with other media corporations while plotting out his professional future. Barkley, who walked back his retirement plans in 2024, specifically named NBC as one of the entities he met with. Yet it wasn’t until the former Phoenix Sun appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast that he revealed his reason for denying the deal he was offered by the NBCUniversal-owned corporation. Apparently, it came down to what Barkley referred to as “bullshit” within the deal:
