NBA fans got an early Christmas present this year when reports revealed that TNT and ESPN have reached an agreement to broadcast basketball’s most popular show, Inside the NBA, beyond the 2024-25 season. The unlikely collaboration not only put an end to the existential problems the Inside show faced due to TNT’s expiring licensing deal, it also paved the way for some fun crossovers between the two networks. We got to see one such instance when Shaquille O’Neal was put on the spot by ESPN’s Malika Andrews.
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The Inside the NBA crew made an appearance on NBA Countdown today for a special broadcast. The usual suspects of the TNT crew, Shaq, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson, were joined by Stephen A. Smith, Kendrick Perkins, Bob Myers, and Malika Andrews, from the ESPN side. Andrews soon proposed a game of ‘Who Said That’ to commemorate the crossover.
She read out a statement and asked the panel members on both sides to identify the person who could have said it. “Who said, ‘If a coach takes his team to the Finals four out of five years, I’ll kiss his feet on Fear Factor with cheese on it?‘” Andrews asked.
The question took everyone by surprise for a second. Charles Barkley broke the silence by confidently claiming that Kendrick Perkins must have said it. When Big Perk vouched that he doesn’t have a ‘foot fetish’, the Chuckster said that the incentive here is the cheese, not the feet.
“Who Said That?” with the @nbaontnt crew was absolute comedy pic.twitter.com/v4j1Qs4vYE
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 15, 2024
The hilarious dig made Perk burst out in laughter. Meanwhile, Andrews decided to take the answer and then rolled the tape to reveal the real culprit behind the quote. Turns out, it was actually Shaquille O’Neal.
The Lakers legend had said it in 2004 after Phil Jackson left the LA side, to underline the veteran coach’s remarkable stint with the organization.
The revelation amused everyone as jokes started flying around. “That’s AI generated, Artificial Intelligence,” Myers tried to save Shaq. But the big fella admitted his defeat, “My bad, my bad, I like cheese.”
Shaq seemed a little embarrassed by his quote from two decades ago. But that didn’t last long as Andrews moved on to the next quote to move the game forward.
The ESPN and TNT collab had flawless chemistry
The crossover between TNT and ESPN presented an ‘Avengers Assemble’ kind of moment for NBA fans. Both sides’ panelists seemed to have natural chemistry with each other.
Everyone poked fun at each other to create some good entertainment for fans. Stephen A. Smith was called out by the panel for a ridiculous take on Karl-Anthony Towns, where he had called the center a lesser talent than Jahil Okafor. Meanwhile, Smith called out Barkley for previously saying that he would never work for ESPN.
In response, Barkley said that the quote was taken out of context, He had actually vouched not to work for ESPN’s sister networks, not the main channel.
At the end, fans felt that the segment ended too quickly. But hopefully, we would get to see more such collabs as the season progresses.
