After weeks and weeks of drama surrounding Inside the NBA and its reported cancellation plus the announcement of the NBA’s new broadcasting rights deal, Charles Barkley has released a statement about the NBA’s choice of Amazon over TNT, and he did not hold back.
Earlier this month, Barkley announced he would retire once Inside the NBA reportedly ends after next season. Then, it was announced that the NBA had signed a deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon for media rights. They left TNT out of the equation, and the basketball legend did not hold back in criticizing the decision, as he posted on Instagram (via Bleacher Report):
Charles Barkley, legendary TNT Inside the NBA Analyst, releases statement pic.twitter.com/oP3depz9xdJuly 26, 2024
For some background, it was reported that TNT tried to match the offer made by Amazon for the broadcasting rights, per SI. However, the NBA released a statement announcing that they’d be working with Amazon, Disney and NBC, and acknowledged that TNT was not part of this new deal.
The 11-year deal – which starts in 2025 – is reportedly worth $76 billion. It specifically makes it so NBA games will be available on NBC or with a Peacock subscription, ESPN and Amazon.
The league claimed that TNT didn’t match the offer, despite reports that the network did try to match Amazon’s.
Then, Warner Bros. Discovery filed a lawsuit against the NBA over the "unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer," per CNN.
As you can read in full above, Barkley is deeply upset about this choice, as he stated that “clearly the NBA has wanted to break up” with them “from the beginning.” He noted that he’s unsure if TNT “ever had a chance” of being part of this deal, and he didn’t hold back in expressing his thoughts on this latest business choice. Here’s one of the primary points he made:
TNT matched the money, but the league knows Amazon and these tech companies are the only ones willing to pay for the rights when they double in the future. The NBA didn’t want to piss them off.
He went on to say that “it’s a sad day” when the people making these decisions “choose money over the fans.”
Along with the NBA Hall of Famer, fans were furious about losing TNT in this new deal too.
Charles Barkley ended his statement by thanking the fans for the time he’s spent commentating on the NBA, and he thanked the league too. He then closed out his post by looking forward to the 2024 TV schedule, saying:
We’re going to give you everything we have next season.
Notably, Barkley also signed off with his name and “TNT Inside the NBA Analyst.”
This statement is in line with all the things Barkley has said about the Inside the NBA drama. At one point, during an elevator interview, Charles explained why losing the show was such a big deal, noting that 100 people work on it. The latest broadcasting rights deal shakes things up even more.
The NBA and TNT have been partners for four decades, so this new broadcasting deal marks a sisemic shift. It’s not surprising that the long-time Inside the NBA co-host is livid about it, especially considering how open he’s been about the possible ending of his show.
For now, the network and Inside the NBA have one season left, and we’ll see Charles Barkley and his co-anchors commentating together once the season gets going. After that, it looks like an era will come to an end, which is maddening for many people, the legendary player and analyst included.
