Bill Simmons may have put his finger on one of the subtle reasons that Inside the NBA has not worked as well in its first season airing on ESPN.
As the show nears its first run-through of the NBA Finals since being licensed by the Worldwide Leader, it has received many complaints from viewers and media alike. And in a recent episode of his podcast, Simmons acknowledged that the show’s scheduling restraints are clearly holding it back, but added that one of the show’s two main stars isn’t carrying his weight.
“It’s the first time they’ve really had backlash, and I don’t know how much of it’s fair and how much of it isn’t fair, but they’ve also been in everybody’s life for such a long time that it’s kind of, this is an inevitable way that this could probably end,” Simmons said.
“But the whole thing has felt off the whole year. I love that show, but the ESPN fit, some of the time that they have, the fact that they don’t have the same time they had after the games, which is when I really thought that show was at the most important.
“And to me, Shaq is the biggest issue with the show. It seems like he’s there because it’s fun to be on the show, but it doesn’t seem like he follows basketball at a high enough level anymore. Like, he doesn’t know who people like (Celtics forward) Baylor Scheierman are. You’re on a studio show covering a sport, you know? There has to be some sort of a modicum of following the game.”
Because restrictions around ABC cutting to late-night local newscasts, Inside the NBA has far less room to stretch its legs postgame than it did on cable, when it aired for decades on TNT. The show also aired far fewer times than normal, as ESPN juggled the Los Angeles-based NBA Countdown while bringing Inside in for the biggest games.
The result was far less Inside, and it clearly affected the rhythm of everyone involved.
However, Simmons’ criticisms of O’Neal are less common in NBA media or on social media. O’Neal took a while to come around after joining the show, but settled in as the show’s class clown and agitator while also finding his lane as an analyst. Even if O’Neal often takes his barbs toward fellow star big men too far, he has a clear perspective that adds to the beloved show.
As Simmons noted, though, O’Neal has largely been off the radar all year. Whereas Charles Barkley regularly does interviews and even has appeared on Pardon the Interruption a handful of times during the season, and Kenny Smith signed a side deal with ESPN to appear on its studio shows, O’Neal has been limited to just Inside, where his sole standout moment came in a bizarre interview with a young couple who went viral at an Indiana Pacers game.
Perhaps the show’s irregular schedule this season hampered him, or O’Neal truly is just not paying enough attention. Fortunately, Simmons believes the Hall of Famer and Inside collectively can end the season on a high note:
“They have a chance to flip the narrative again these next couple rounds. The basketball’s better, there’s more of a spotlight on them. It’ll be easier for someone like Shaq because there’s only four teams left, he can just watch the game and figure out what happened. He’ll know who Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is.”
Correction: This story originally suggested ESPN aired Inside the NBA sparingly because of its commitment to using SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt as a postgame show. The story has been updated to remove that suggestion.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.