TNT
Charles Barkley seems like a man who is ready to soak in the final season of Inside The NBA for all its worth.
With the NBA agreeing to new broadcasting deals with ESPN/ABC, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video, the upcoming 2024/25 NBA season is set to be the last that will be broadcast on TNT, which also means it’ll be the final season of Inside The NBA.
The beloved NBA pre-and-post-game show has been on the air since 1989 and has become beloved for the irreverent and honest way that its panel of Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson cover the game.
During a recent appearance on Bill Simmons’ podcast, Barkley hilariously detailed just how much leeway the Inside The NBA crew has accrued over the years, as he revealed they’ll often tell the producers to ‘shut the F up’ when they try to interrupt a conversation for a commercial break.
“Hey Bill, I’ll tell ya something, there’s time when we’re talking and they’re like, ‘We gotta go to commercial.’ And we’ll be like, ‘Shut the f— up! We’re not done! Nobody wants to see another f—— commercial. Hold it!'”
god, im going to miss this show. https://t.co/Ey0RVezxMV pic.twitter.com/A2b7XQHPod
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) September 4, 2024
Sharing some behind-the-scenes details of Inside The NBA isn’t all that Barkley discussed when appearing on Bill Simmons’ podcast, as he also brutally ripped into players in the WNBA for the “petty, jealous” way they’ve been treating rookie sensation Caitlin Clark.
“These ladies, and I’m a WNBA fan, they cannot f—– this Caitlin Clark thing up any worse if they tried,” Barkley told Simmons.
According to reports, despite TNT losing its NBA rights, it will not be doing away with Inside The NBA, as reports indicate the network is playing to retool the series into a more all-encompassing sports show. Barkley also recently revealed he turned down over $100 million to remain with TNT in order to protect the jobs of the people who work on Inside The NBA.