Kenny Smith Tripped On The Set Of ‘Inside The NBA’ And Became An Instant Meme

NBA on TNT analyst Kenny Smith looked like anything but a “jet” Monday night during the latest episode of Inside the NBA.

“The Jet” appeared to suffer a flat tire during halftime of the Los Angeles Lakers-Denver Nuggets game as he attempted to traverse the three small steps up to the studio’s video board.

“Karma! Karma! That is karma!” Charles Barkley immediately starting shouting at Smith, who was already laughing at his slip.

“That’s going viral!” Shaq then yelled at him.

“I’m laughing so hard!” Kenny Smith replied back while doubling over.

“This is hilarious, yeah, I’m good though,” Smith reassured the cracking up crew who asked if he was alright.

“I gotta see my fall,” Smith told the guys, still cracking up.

So, of course, the NBA on TNT crew did just that, showing a slow-motion replay of Kenny Smith’s trip along with a slew of memes that had already popped up on social media.

During the replay, Smith tried to claim, “I saved myself! I saved myself!”

Chuck quickly replied, “No you didn’t.”

“You love it! You love it!” Kenny then said to Shaq who was shown with a big grin in the replay.

“I do, yes I do,” Shaq replied.

“That’s definitely gonna be on ‘Shaqtin’ a Fool,'” Barkley foretold after watching some of the memes.

That bunch of memes was, of course, only the beginning.

Oh, man. If NBC, Amazon, Apple, Google, Netflix or someone else steals the NBA from TNT when their deal expires at the end of the 2024-25 season and we lose Ernie, Shaq, Chuck and Kenny it would be the biggest mistake in the history of sports television.

The good news is that, according to Sports Business Journal, “ESPN and TNT have the right to match any new deal that the league may strike with a third party.”

SBJ also reported that despite the NBA’s exclusive negotiating window with ESPN and TNT expiring last week, “the sides were already 75% of the way to a new deal when the period opened last month.”