Inside The NBA’s Hosts Were Honored During All-Star Weekend, And Fans Were Annoyed Over One Thing

Over the past few days the NBA All-Star Weekend played out in Oakland, California, with a wave of major stars (including a smiling Emma Watson) taking in the festivities. What’s particularly significant about this particular year is that it marks the last time the annual game will be broadcast on TNT. Also, this will seemingly be the final time that the hosts of Inside the NBA’s hosts will cover the event. With that, the quartet of anchors were honored on Sunday, and fans were subsequently annoyed over one particular detail.

It’s traditional that during the All-Star game, there’s a ceremonial hand-off between the current host city and the next. In this case, Oakland handed the reins to Inglewood, California. That was surely expected amid this year’s tournament style event, but what some likely weren’t prepared for was the lengthy attempt to honor the hosts of Inside. Emcee Kevin Hart led the tribute, which saw Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal brought onto the court to receive framed jerseys and more. Check it out:

The fishing gear was symbolic of Inside the NBA’s “Gone Fishin’” segment, which sees the four hosts ushering teams into the offseason after they’ve been eliminated from the playoffs. Although the sentiment behind the gesture was sweet, many are taking issue with the execution. Something that really seemed to really rub viewers the wrong way was the fact that this segment (which you can see part of on YouTube) happened in the middle of a game. Check out what some X users had to say about that portion of the broadcast:

Don’t get me wrong, it was certainly sweet of Kevin Hart and co. to take the time to honor the long-running sports talk show, which debuted in 1989. However, I completely understand fans’ gripes, as the tribute did take away from the momentum of the broadcast due to its placement. As noted above, it definitely could’ve been held during another part of the show, ideally before the game began.

For much of 2024, Inside the NBA faced cancellation due to Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT”s parent company) losing the broadcast rights to the aforementioned professional basketball league. There was also additional sadness last summer when Charles Barkley announced his intention to retire from broadcasting after this current season, regardless of whether the show returned or not. (Barkley later walked back those plans as a means of saving jobs.)

The situation has changed immensely since then, though. TNT and ESPN reached a historic deal that would allow Inside to be licensed out to the latter network. As part of that, the hosts will provide coverage for the NBA Finals, Christmas day games, opening week games and more. This agreement also ensures that the series will continue to air for the next eleven years. It’s for that reason that at least one fan on X thought a send-off ceremony of sorts was unnecessary.

It’s true that fans will indeed see more of Shaq (who just inked a new deal), Charles Barkley (who’s aiming to stay) and co. Still, as awkwardly timed or unnecessary as the All-Star game tribute may have been, I can appreciate that the producers wanted to give the host their flowers.