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Thursday was a historic night for the NBA.
Ahead of the first-ever semifinals of the NBA in-season tournament in Las Vegas, ESPN and TNT announced that they would join forces for the pregame shows on both channels.
ESPN and TNT will collaborate on pregame coverage. TNT’s Inside the NBA team – Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal – will appear on ESPN NBA Countdown for an extended segment within its 4 p.m. pregame show. ESPN NBA Countdown is hosted by Malika Andrews and includes Stephen A. Smith, Michael Wilbon, Bob Myers and Adrian Wojnarowski.
The NBA Countdown team will then appear on TNT’s Inside the NBA pregame show for an extended segment within their 7:30 p.m. telecast.
It didn’t take long for some shenanigans to go down during the TNT-ESPN crossover.
During the historic pregame show, TNT’s Charles Barkley threatened to whoop Stephen A Smith’s a– if he got loud while arguing.
“If you come over here with all that loud ass talking. This ain’t First Take. This gone be the first a– whooping you take”
Charles Barkley to Stephen A. Smith:
“If you come over here with all that loud ass talking. This ain’t First Take. This gone be the first ass whooping you take.”
😂😂😂
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 7, 2023
The TNT-ESPN crossover episode was a hit among fans.
the inside the nba crew has already derailed everything on espn. took 30 seconds for chuck to threaten to whoop stephen a's ass and tell shaq the heat in vegas is practice for when he goes to hell. best to ever do it.
— Robby Kalland (@RKalland) December 7, 2023