Barkley: TNT has 'no idea' about future of 'Inside the NBA'

Charles Barkley doesn't know what's in store for himself and the rest of the "Inside the NBA" crew beyond next season.

The Hall of Famer and longtime "Inside the NBA" analyst spoke about the show's future on a recent episode of "The Bill Simmons Podcast," indicating TNT is still weighing its options.

"They don't even have no idea what we're gonna do," Barkley said. "So I'm sitting in this meeting in Philly. 'We wanna keep doing the show.' I was like, 'What do you mean?' Like, 'We wanna keep y'all together.' I says, 'Well, I would consider that because I want all my friends to keep their jobs.' I said, 'What are we gonna do?' They're like, 'We haven't figured that out yet.' I'm like, what? I says, '(TNT) won't have basketball. What the hell are we gonna do?'

"And so that's the thing that's fascinating. Like I say, I know we got one more year with the NBA, then we're going to lose it. And they wanna do the show at least another year, but I'm like, we don't even have basketball. We're going to pay for highlights."

The NBA signed a new 11-year media rights deal in July with Disney, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video, rejecting a $1.8-billion-per-year matching offer from TNT's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. TBS and Warner Bros. Discovery subsequently filed a lawsuit against the NBA.

Barkley announced in June that he planned to retire from television after the 2024-25 season but has since walked back that decision and will remain with TNT through the remainder of his contract.