Kenny Smith isn’t sweating the future of Inside the NBA.

The future of the Inside the NBA is up in the air due to TNT losing broadcasting rights to NBA games following the conclusion of the 2024-25 season. The NBA is entering a long-term partnership with Amazon after TNT Sports failed to match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer. The league will continue broadcasting games on ABC/ESPN and will renew their partnership with NBC on an 11-year media rights deal worth $76 million ($6.9 billion per season).

Although the Emmy-award winning show — which has aired on TNT since the network acquired NBA broadcasting rights prior to the 1989-90 season — faces an uncertain future with the network losing NBA rights following the 2024-25 season, Smith is confident that the show will continue — whether that’s on TNT or elsewhere.

“I feel like LeBron James a little bit when he was a free agent,” says Smith in a one-on-one interview. “I think at some point we’re going to have to say we’re taking our talents to…we’re going to have to let the world know. I’ve been everywhere, Miami, New York, Abu Dhabi and everyone asks the same question — what’s going on with the show? It’s great to know that we’re such a fabric of the NBA that people care.”

Smith — who has been a member of Inside the NBA since 1998 — has created arguably the most memorable quartet in sports broadcasting history alongside Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal. Johnson has hosted the show since 1990, Barkley joined in 2000 at the conclusion of his NBA career, and O’Neal has been a member since 2011 when he retired.

The value of the show isn’t so much ingrained in the name or the network where it airs — the value is due to the talent on the show and behind the scenes. It’s a sentiment that Smith echoes repeatedly throughout the interview and hints at everyone involved with Inside the NBA “owning the property” with or without TNT Sports.

“I think we have the most unique opportunity if we move together in sports television history and own the property,” says Smith. “Even if we stay, own the property, distribute it and to make sure the people that made it great — including the producers, directors, cameramen, statisticians, audio — they’re still a thought.”

Although Barkley previously indicated that he would retire after the 2024-25 season, TNT Sports released a statement following the NBA-Amazon deal that Barkley would “exclusively” contribute to its networks for many years to come. Barkley is in the midst of the third year of a 10-year deal.

Smith has big aspirations for the future and ownership of the show, comparing it to Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions. Sandler founded the film and television production company in 1999 after a string of successful box-office hits starring the comedy actor.

“I know Adam Sandler pretty well,” says Smith. “I look at his company, Happy Madison, when you can create that environment. This will be the first time in sports television history that we will be able to do that. Those calls are coming in for things like that if things shift. I look at ourselves like Seinfeld — the four of us. But if it moves to another network or it stays, it’s still the same show — it’s still us. It’s important for me and all of us to make sure that the people over the past 25 years that really put in the work are still there.”

The 59-year-old former NBA guard also compares the idea of the quartet — and everyone behind the scenes — owning the Inside the NBA label the way brothers, Peyton and Eli Manning, created their own brand with Omaha Productions.

“It’s going to be like what Eli and his brother Peyton did,” says Smith. “They created opportunities in not just being a talent. Owning your own label is important because then it allows you to empowering people who make things great. That’s not just our job anymore — it’s our obligation. I think it’s our obligation to make sure those people are there.”

There have been rumors that Inside the NBA could shift to an all-around sports show hosted by Smith and his fellow longtime on-screen co-hosts considering Turner Sports also owns a number of other sports properties, such as MLB, NHL, AEW, golf and college basketball.

Smith leaves the door open on that scenario, but stresses their background is in the NBA and continues to hammer home the possibility of the show being able to thrive on another network.

“That’s one (possibility), but we’re NBA too,” says Smith. “What makes us us is we know the game. I think that’s true, 100%, that could happen. But I think also people that have the property from other networks — NBC, Amazon and ESPN/ABC — we all know them. Either they worked for Turner, we worked with them somewhere else, it’s all the same people. The people at Amazon, they were at ESPN and TNT. If the four of us — if we decide to move together at any point or stay together — it’s going to be monumental.”

The two-time NBA champion is speaking on behalf of his partnership with health technology company Abbott and soccer club Real Madrid. Smith participated in a one-day event on August 1 in New York City that saw the former basketball star take part in a soccer clinic featuring drills along with coaching from Real Madrid coaches. The event was also attended by former NFL stars Vernon Davis, Justin Tuck and Torry Holt.

“I signed a one-day deal with Abbott and Real Madrid,” says Smith while smiling. “I trained with the coaches and did a bunch of skills and challenges. And then we played a game. My team won, I feel I was co-MVP because I was the goalie. I only gave up one goal, we won 5-1. I was extremely tired. You can go on my Instagram and see all these things, see the bloopers and you can see a lot of me drinking the 30 grams of Ensure Max Protein because I was exhausted.”

While Smith is having fun off of the set with Abbott and Real Madrid, he once again iterates that when it comes to the business side of things — the future of the Inside the NBA — that there’s “interest” from other network in continuing the show.

“I know that there’s interest,” says Smith confidently. “Have we talked to everyone? Not really. But do we know there’s interest? Hell yeah. My thought process is, how do we collectively empower the people that help empower us? And if we move together, it will be the most monumental deal in the history of sports television.”