Jalen Rose made his Inside the NBA debut Tuesday night and the former ESPN analyst seemed like he’s been working alongside Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal for years.
Nearly 17 months after he was part of ESPN’s high-profile round of layoffs, Rose has started to resurface in the media again. Rose recently joined Big Ten College Countdown as NBC looks to bolster its basketball coverage ahead of the network reacquiring NBA rights beginning next season. But Tuesday night, Rose joined the NBA on TNT as a guest analyst, filling in for Kenny Smith who had the week off.
Not that anyone thought Rose would be intimidated having to talk basketball on TNT, but he showed up ready to take part in the hijinks, roasting Barkley for his “welding glasses,” taking a pottery lesson, calling out Drake for suing Kendrick Lamar, and making fun of Shaq’s dry skin.
“You look at Shaq’s hands? He got 150 businesses, he needs to invest in some lotion!” Rose joked during the always entertaining 1am hour of Inside the NBA.
That’s a season on ESPN, but it’s one night on TNT. Inside the NBA is widely considered the best studio show in sports. There might be no better opportunity for an NBA analyst to showcase their talent. But with the show being widely lauded for its chemistry, that could be a tough thing for a newcomer to crack during a one-off.
Rose was always viewed as a solid NBA analyst for ESPN during his 10 seasons on Countdown. But Countdown never had the chemistry that Inside the NBA enjoys. Usually, Countdown’s lack of chemistry is blamed on having a revolving door of hosts and analysts. Tuesday night, however, Rose and Inside the NBA proved chemistry can be built overnight. Credit Rose for fitting perfectly, even if it was just one night, and credit Inside the NBA for creating a space where a newcomer can fit into their chemistry in just one night.
There might not be a more long-term spot available to Rose on Inside the NBA right now. But even if becomes one of their first analysts off the bench, it would be interesting to see Rose resurface on ESPN next season by way of Inside the NBA.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com