SUMMARY
- Turner Sports Media's "Inside the NBA" is as award winning show that features Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith.
- The TNT show will be running it's final season as the NBA hasn't renewed streaming rights with the company.
The hit show produced by Turner Sports Media called “Inside the NBA” has been a staple in the sports entertainment field for several decades now. Hosted by legendary NBA players, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley as well as Hall of Fame media personality Ernie Johnson, this show has won several hearts over the years. Unfortunately, the 2024-25 season will be TNT’s last run with the NBA.
The league’s ongoing media deals are set to expire in a year. TNT had streaming rights for various NBA games since 1989, during the prestigious Michael Jordan era. Companies like ESPN and ABC were able to rack up a few good multi-billion dollar deals with the NBA to renew their streaming rights. However, with those companies taking on primary streaming rights, Turner’s only chance of being a media partner with the league was if they managed to come up with a strong “B” package.
BREAKING: The 2024-2025 NBA season will mark the final run for TNT’s ‘INSIDE THE NBA’ featuring Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley, per @screentime pic.twitter.com/UbxFqxQf3f
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 22, 2024
Sadly, companies like NBC and Peacock somehow outbid their way into remaining with the NBA while TNT was rejected. NBC was reportedly willing to pay $2.5 billion to remain with the NBA. The entire cast’s future is currently in jeopardy even though some of them are willing to stay together but under another label. Barkley claimed that he offered to produce the show through Fine Line Production, which he owns. But here are a few things fans will certainly miss about Inside the NBA.
Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley’s hilarious roast battles
Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley are some of the greatest NBA players ever. Barkley used to make occasional appearances on the TNT show during his playing days, much like what Draymond Green currently does. Soon after he retired in 2000, he joined the cast as a full-time member. Shaquille also signed with TNT to be one of the hosts of the show shortly after he retired.
However, their dynamic is by far the biggest highlight of the show. O’Neal and Charles often roast each other on set. Shaq never fails to remind the former Philadelphia 76ers player about his lack of rings, while Chuckster bullies the 4x NBA Champion about his weight. Fans will never forget the time Charles tried to sucker punch Shaq after he attempted to defend Kenny Smith from scoring a basket over him on set.
Shaq-tin A Fool segments
Throughout an NBA season, there’s one segment of Inside the NBA that players would want to avoid being featured on at all costs. ‘Shaq-tin A Fool’ features the top five fumbles of every week to take place on the NBA court. O’Neal would select various plays or laughable moments that have occurred during games.
But ironically, the former Los Angeles Lakers superstar has had his very own Shaq-tin A Fool moments. Occasionally, Kenny Smith would race either O’Neal or Chuck to the big screen behind the panel. Smith once raced O’Neal during a Christmas special. While Shaq nearly outbeat Smith, the latter pushed the NBA star into the Christmas tree. Not to forget the time Shaq tried to eat the world’s hottest chip, popularly known as the Paquis One Chip Challenge.
Charles Barkley’s mild speech impediment and awkward exchanges with players
Charles Barkley should be protected at all costs. The former NBA player often delivers some hilarious takes on various things that happen around the league but has a few fair discussions as well. But the highlight of them all has to be his inability to pronounce names right off the bat. Barkley had trouble pronouncing names like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, and Jonas Valanciunas.
The New Orleans Pelicans center, who is a Lithuanian native called Charles out once. He said, “Hey Chuck, I can say your last name, Barkley. Why you can’t say mine?” Even then, Charles found it hard to pronounce the name while he was being put under the spotlight. He kept saying, Jonas Valan-cee-nas instead of the actual pronunciation. This will forever be a running joke amongst the cast members and fans of the legendary show.
The cast of NBA on TNT challenges each other to various tasks
The entire cast of Inside the NBA are well above their 50s or 60s. The eldest among the cast members happens to be Ernie Johnson. But the most wholesome part about their dynamic is how they always partake in various challenges during a segment called EJ’s Neato Stat of the Night. One of the most viral challenges involved Shaq, someone who often loves to challenge himself and try his best to overcome them. Shaquille was once challenged to take on the ALS Pepper Challenge.
The Lakers legend had to eat a chicken wing doused in an extremely spicy seasoning. Shaq, who claimed he didn’t feel the heat tried everything he could to keep a straight face. But the legend couldn’t go any further after he began coughing from the spice. The cast has taken part in various other challenges such as the Basketball Beer Challenge, The Whisper Challenge, The Mystery Box Challenge, and most notably Chuck’s take on the Silhouette Challenge which featured the hit song “Streets” by Doja Cat.
What’s not there to love about the cast of Inside the NBA?
Fans love tuning into Inside the NBA while TNT airs various games via their network. Recently, there were a few moments that went viral on social media as well. Before the Minnesota Timberwolves commence their Western Conference Finals run, Chuck admittedly told Anthony Edwards that he hasn’t been to Minneapolis in 20 years. Edwards hilariously said, “Bring ya a**.” This quote went viral and Minnesota’s Tourism Department took notice of it. They edited the quote to their website’s URL which redirects its main page.
Last night, Charles Barkley said he hadn’t been to Minnesota in “probably 20 years.”
Anthony Edwards responded “Bring ya ass.”https://t.co/9XBQARuJeQ now directs you to the state of Minnesota’s tourism website. pic.twitter.com/BdFr1LEMu9
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) May 21, 2024
Another hilarious exchange between Smith and Barkley went viral. The former Houston Rockets player tried to explain what the Boston Celtics and Jayson Tatum had on the line this post-season. Smith couldn’t make much sense out of what he said and Barkley immediately called his take “boring” which sent the entire panel into a burst of laughter. Overall, they’ve been major figures in the sports entertainment field, and losing them would also mean losing a huge part of the NBA.