Charles Barkley on ‘Inside the NBA’ licensing deal: ‘TNT just sucks’

NBA season is fast approaching, but one of the sport’s most beloved television programs is still in the dark about its new arrangements.

After TNT lost NBA rights in the latest round of media negotiations last year, the network licensed the popular Inside the NBA studio show to ESPN. Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson will all make their debut on the Worldwide Leader next month as the NBA tips off its season.

But with time of the essence, the Inside guys still don’t know how their show will be formatted under the ESPN umbrella. Traditionally, ESPN has foregone traditional postgame shows like that of Inside the NBA, instead opting to use SportsCenter as a vehicle for the network’s postgame coverage. That will obviously change this season, but one of the lingering questions about Inside‘s move to ESPN centers around just how long the show will air before the network resumes its regularly scheduled programming.

Last month, ESPN’s early schedule indicated that the first episode of Inside the NBA to air on the network was only being allotted 30 minutes. The advance schedule is subject to change, but the news raised alarm bells for NBA fans who are accustomed to seeing Chuck, Shaq, and Co. chop it up for well over an hour after the conclusion of games.

Now, appearing on The Bill Simmons Podcast, even Barkley is revealing just how little his own colleagues know about the future of the show’s format.

“The reason you guys had the best studio show of all time, other than the talent, was that you had these producers that actually let it breathe, that gave you like eight, nine minutes at halftime in a row to have a conversation,” Simmons suggested. “Do you feel like you’re going to be able to do that at ESPN? And what happens if you can’t?”

“We don’t know,” Barkley responded. “This has been one of the worst, TNT just sucks to be honest with you, Bill. They made this deal. They haven’t told us when we’re going to work. They haven’t told us how it’s going to work. Because, we’ve been talking behind the scenes, like … after the game are we going to get anytime or are they gonna say, ‘Hey, you guys got to go to SportsCenter.’

“That’s the best part of our show, after the game [where] we can, like, have conversation and have fun,” Barkley continued. “Are they gonna say, ‘You guys got three minutes, five minutes, 15, 20, 30, 45?’ Or are we going to go straight to SportsCenter? They haven’t given us an answer whatsoever. And TNT, I think they sold the show and they haven’t been noncommunicable [sic] at all.”

Clearly, there’s some frustration brewing behind the scenes as the fate of Inside is largely out of the crew’s hands. While TNT will still produce the show and control its editorial direction, ESPN will ultimately decide when it will air and for how long, factors that can fundamentally change the show’s typical feel.

And with just over a month until the season starts, it seems like these details should get sorted out sooner rather than later, unless ESPN and TNT want Charles Barkley to continue flaming them in the media.