The NBA is leaving TNT: The 5 best 'Inside the NBA' moments, like Barkley's Galveston rant

The NBA is leaving TNT: The 5 best ‘Inside the NBA’ moments, like Barkley’s Galveston rant

Posted by Admin July 25, 2024 NBA

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“Inside the NBA” is known for its freewheeling banter between stars Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal. Barkley’s rants about Galveston and San Antonio women top the list

The National Basketball Association is set to lose one of its flagship shows as the league announced it would drop TNT − home of “Inside the NBA” − and enter into an agreement with Amazon, NBC, and Disney to carry games for the next 11 years.

“Inside” garnered 19 sports Emmy Awards and is widely considered one of the best studio sports shows, known for its freewheeling banter between stars Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal. The apparent end of the relationship between TNT Sports and the NBA at the end of the 2024-2025 season spells the end for the landmark show.

TNT Sports, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, announced Monday that it had invoked a matching clause in the broadcaster’s current rights deal that would have allowed the network to retain some broadcasts. The NBA rejected the offer saying in a statement that “Warner Bros. Discovery did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer.”

TNT Sports responded to the announcement with a statement on X, saying that the league did not interpret the clause correctly.

“We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do, and do not believe the NBA can reject it,” TNT Sports said in the statement. “We think they have grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action.”

TNT was aiming to take over Amazon’s “C” package estimated at $1.8 billion, which includes a conference final every other year, weekly broadcast rights, WNBA rights and early round playoff game broadcasts, according to reports in Front Office Sports confirmed by USA TODAY.

Here are some of the best moments from “Inside the NBA.”

San Antonio women

If there is one gag from “Inside the NBA” that will survive past the death of the show, and perhaps beyond the existence of the league, it is Barkley’s running feud with the “big ‘ol women” of San Antonio and their supposed love of churros.

The bit is the best example of Barkley’s humor pushing the envelope and working, even if the round-mound of rebound told a Washington, D.C. sports radio station in 2021 that Turner executives put a stop to it.

Phoenix nachos

Barkley’s rant against the Phoenix Suns, one of his former teams, epitomized the depths the franchise fell to under the ownership of Robert Saver.

Barkley railed against the quality of the food, lack of fans and wide availability of parking, egged on by the rest of the “Inside” crew.

Police presence

A report on a locker room invasion after a 2018 playoff game between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Clippers caused Barkley and O’Neal to break out into hysterics after it was reported that a “police presence” was required at the scene.

Underrated in the moment is Rosalyn “Ros” Gold-Onwude’s ability to professionally finish her hit as O’Neal and Barkley are audibly laughing at the situation.

Pelicans sent Galveston

Some teams just don’t deserve Cancun. The 2024 New Orleans Pelicans earned themselves a post-season downgrade after a lackluster showing in the first round of the playoffs and a sweep by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Barkley’s rant about the “dirty water” in the southeastern Texas island city of Galveston showed that the show was as funny as ever, even as speculation about its fate ramped up.

1, 2, back to 1

One of the show’s strengths is the occasional deconstruction of the sports talk-show format that the “Inside” crew walks into.

This moment, where Barkley commandeers a segment ostensibly about a playoff game between the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trailblazes, combines with O’Neal’s petty streak to give the audience a hilarious insight on how segments are supposed to be structured and how the structure can be toppled.

Contributing: Jordan Mendoza