After 35 seasons with Turner Sports Network, Inside the NBA is moving to a new home. Charles Barkley has never been keen on the move to ESPN, speaking against the sports broadcasting giant on multiple occasions, but told Dan Patrick he finally signed a new contract last week. That doesn’t mean the Hall of Famer is happy, though.
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The Round Mound of Rebound will be splitting his time between TNT and ESPN, but at 62 years old, Barkley’s biggest concern with the transition is his work schedule, citing that as the main reason he took so long to sign. The Sixers legend explained that he still has seven years left on his previous deal but doesn’t plan on working past the 2026-27 campaign.
Barkley insisted he would continue to be “a good soldier” for his cohosts and the rest of his friends behind the scenes but that he won’t finish out his contract. He said TNT’s recent decision-making hasn’t made working under new conditions easy either.
Despite working in the business for over two decades, Barkley still isn’t sure what his role will be. “And then TNT is trying to do something stupid behind the scenes,” Chuck said on The Dan Patrick Show. “We taped a pilot about a month ago, and it was the stupidest sh*t I’ve ever seen in my life.”
After Patrick expressed confusion about the pilot, Barkley explained that he would only be working at ESPN “half to one-third of the time,” so TNT wanted to try out a new format knowing the Inside crew was still working for them. “So, I think TNT wants to do something, and we taped a pilot … It was the stupidest sh*t ever,” Chuck continued adamantly.
The former MVP explained that TNT’s new idea was “stupid for a couple reasons.” The issues with the show go beyond the initial pilot. In Barkley’s eyes, the proposed show doesn’t provide much valuable insight and has time conflicts with the NBA’s most important product — actual basketball.
“Number one, we won’t have basketball highlights,” Chuck shared. “But also, we’re probably gonna be going up against an NBA game. Anybody who likes basketball ain’t gonna say, ‘Hey, you know what, let me go turn off an NBA game … to go watch these four dudes sit around and talk about nothing.'”
Only time will tell if Barkley and the rest of the Inside crew can adjust to these confusing new working conditions. Even if he does enjoy his new place of work, though, it doesn’t seem likely that Sir Charles will be a featured sports personality too much longer.
