One of the biggest draws for the basketball audience during a live season is the late-night hit sports show, Inside the NBA; a show that has notably gone through some changes over the last few months. The cast remains the same, but the home of the show has changed with ESPN owning the rights. The switch left a bit of uncertainty, but popular analyst on the show, Charles Barkley’s has provided a reassurance, at least to his co-workers.
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Since the show’s inception, Inside the NBA has been on TNT. Unfortunately, Turner Sports couldn’t keep up in a bidding war with NBC and Amazon Prime in the NBA’s new CBA negotiations. Instead of Inside the NBA becoming a thing of the past, ESPN quickly jumped on the opportunity to obtain the show’s rights.
This was major news, not just to the public but to everyone involved. So much so that, beloved cast member Charles Barkley first expressed his frustration with TNT for not being professional with how they handled the situation.
“I learned from people at ESPN that we had been traded to ESPN. TNT did not even have the common courtesy that we were going to work for ESPN. How unprofessional is that?” Barkley asked during an interview with Sports Illustrated.
The NBA legend has also been rather wary of how ESPN may handle the show. He didn’t want Inside the NBA to lose the charm which made the show so special among fans. In a recent interview with Steve Bulpett, it seems that Barkley received some reassurance that his feared outcome won’t come to pass.
“They said they’re not going to make us throw it to the local affiliates when we’re on ABC. And then they said, when we’re on ESPN, they’re not going to rush us off to go to SportsCenter. Which were the only two things we were really concerned with,” Barkley said.
This update from Barkley is exactly what basketball fans wanted to hear. Aside from the crew’s coverage on opening night, ESPN hasn’t released any information about game nights or how they plan on revamping Inside the NBA, if that is their plan at all to begin with.
It was clear in the past that Monday and Thursday would feature Inside the NBA. If the show only aired on significant dates, that would be quite the shame. And even though Barkley would hate for that to be the case, he doesn’t have to worry about ESPN meeting his needs.
“Listen, it cannot not work out. We’re going to get paid, no matter what,” Barkley proclaimed, adding, “Hey, man, we’re watching basketball and talking about it. We’ve got a great job.”
At this point the best fans can hope for is some clarity from ESPN, especially with the 2025-26 season just weeks away.
