Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley were rivals on the basketball court and even threw punches at each other, which once even prompted their mothers to step in and scold them. Since retiring, the duo has built a great camaraderie after becoming co-workers on Inside The NBA with their chemistry being must-see TV. That said, while they no longer want to punch each other, that doesn’t stop them from verbally sparring on TV.
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The duo often gets into heated debates, sometimes escalating to personal jibes. One of their most famous arguments happened in 2019 when the Inside The NBA crew was doing monologues for a documentary about the show.
Barkley went first and Kenny Smith followed suit, but before O’Neal could speak, the Phoenix Suns icon interrupted him which irked the former Los Angeles Lakers superstar. Rather than defusing the situation, Barkley saw an opportunity to needle O’Neal and called him ‘Mr. Sensitive.’ Consequently, the three-time Finals MVP was left incensed with his co-star’s verbal jibe and said,
“No, I ain’t sensitive, I’m gonna knock your ass out on national TV. I’m telling you right now. Play me if you want to. It’s supposed to be one, two, three, not one, two, back to one with your dumb ass. Do it again, Chuck.”
While O’Neal continued his rant, the rest of the crew, including Ernie Johnson, laughed hysterically, much to the Hall of Famer’s frustration. Johnson, Barkley, and Smith weren’t the only ones on set who couldn’t hold back from laughing at their irate co-worker. Kevin Cottrell Jr., TNT’s senior NBA researcher in 2019, recently reminisced about the incident after coming across a clip of it on X, formerly Twitter, and wrote,
“Man I did 14 years in that building and off air this was top 3 funniest days ever at work.”
It’s safe to say that nobody took O’Neal’s threat seriously and saw his rant as an ingenious effort at needling from Barkley. Hilarious and genuine moments like these make Inside The NBA stand out from any other sports analysis show on TV. This only makes it more unfortunate that the show could come to an end very soon.
Inside The NBA’s future is in jeopardy
The Inside The NBA crew’s days together could be numbered due to a situation beyond their control. The NBA is fielding bids for media rights and TNT is reportedly lagging behind its competitors. NBC has allegedly prepared a $2.5 billion bid to secure the rights, more than two times what TNT currently pays the NBA.
The Inside The NBA quartet signed contract extensions with TNT in 2022, but per reports, Barkley has a clause in his contract stating he would become a free agent if the network loses NBA media rights. While the crew could move to a new network and continue working together, that isn’t a viable option because Ernie Johnson has reportedly committed to staying at TNT, regardless of whether the network retains or loses the rights to cover the NBA.
The other three could remain together and work with a new host, but during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show earlier this week, Barkley claimed that the quartet would cease to exist because Johnson was “the most important person” on the show.
The crew nervously awaits to find out whether they’ll work with each other for the foreseeable future or if it’s time to embark on a farewell tour.
