“When Ernie Almost Died From Laughing”: Isiah Thomas Reminisces Over Shaquille O’Neal And Charles Barkley TNT Quarrel

The joy that Inside the NBA brings to fans around the world is unprecedented. The hosting quartet of Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley is one of the most beloved groups in sports entertainment history, and their individual brand of humor goes a long way to making the show the success it is today. Each person on the panel fills a role, and for Ernie, the only member without prior professional basketball experience, that role is one of the mediator.

One such case of his attempts to calm down an ‘argument’ between O’Neal and Barkley has gone viral again, thanks to Isiah Thomas, who shared the clip to his Instagram Stories. It started ofcourse, with Shaq and Chuck bickering about the order of speaking on the show. Chuck started proeedings, then Kenny said his piece, and instead of then moving to Shaq (which they usually do), Chuck snuck in a few more words.

Shaq seemed incensed by this, and loudly called Chuck out for this, telling him he’d “knock yo a** out on National TV.” While the three former NBA pros kept arguing about their order of speaking, Johnson just kept laughing, with a few snorts in between laughs. He would eventually stand up from his seat, and repeat what Shaq said, “It’s supposed to be 1,2,3 not 1,2 back to 1,” all while struggling to control himself.

These moments with Shaq and Barkley are actually pretty common, and usually Ernie manages to calm them down while in the flow of things.  That’s what makes this moment so rare. Ernie is the only trained media professional among the 4. It’s very difficult to make him break character, but when times like this occur, even he can’t control himself. And maybe that’s why Thomas shared it to his story.

Another such moment where Johnson failed to maintain ‘decorum’ as it were, occurred during the 2023 playoffs, when the crew were roasting Celtics guard Derrick White.

The Inside Guys roast Derrick White’s hairline

When the Celtics took a 2-0 lead over the Hawks in the 2023 playoffs, the Inside the NBA crew struggled to keep their composure after Derrick White spoke about his performance in game 2. Shaq started off by making fun of the guard’s hairline, before Chuck mockingly called him “Stephen A.”

Ernie did try to bring them back on topic, which was how White was averaging 25 points over two games, but the two were too far gone to bring back. The jokes went on for nearly 3 minutes, by which time any semblance of seriusness was far gone from the studio.