‘I’m angry’: Charles Barkley rips bosses with TNT on the verge of losing the NBA

Charles Barkley is not thrilled about the possibility of TNT losing NBA rights, and he’s venting his anger at his bosses at Warner Bros. Discovery, including CEO David Zaslav.

After the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery in 2022, Zaslav proclaimed, “We don’t have to have the NBA” during an investor conference. Barkley, speaking on the Dan Patrick Show Thursday, said he thinks those comments unnecessarily angered NBA commissioner Adam Silver and other key executives.

“The people I work with, they’ve screwed this thing up, clearly,” Barkley said, calling them “clowns” and adding, “When we merged, that’s the first thing our boss said, ‘We don’t need the NBA.’ Well, he don’t need it, but … we need it. So it just sucks right now.”

Even as TNT hosts the Western Conference finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves, Barkley said morale was low since he and everyone who works on Inside the NBA — including colleagues Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson — could soon be out of work.

“Yeah, I’m angry,” Barkley said, focusing on the behind-the-scenes employees who make the show possible. “They’re part of my family, to be honest with you.”

Nothing is official yet, but the NBA is reportedly finalizing new TV rights deals with NBC, Amazon, and ESPN’s parent company Disney. No announcements are expected this week, according to league and network sources not authorized to speak publicly.

TNT has broadcast NBA games since 1989, and Barkley has been with the network 24 years, joining the crew following his retirement in 2000. Despite all the reports, Barkley said he’s in the dark about what the future holds.

“I don’t feel good, I’m not going to lie. Especially when they came out yesterday and said, ‘We bought college football,’” Barkley said, “I was like, ‘Well, damn, they could’ve used that money to buy the NBA.’”

Barkley was referring to a deal announced Wednesday involving ESPN selling TNT a handful of College Football Playoff games to broadcast over the next five years. The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported the timing is coincidental, and the agreement would have happened even if TNT were slated to keep its NBA rights deal.

If TNT ends up losing the NBA, Barkley has a backup plan. He told Patrick he’s had talks to keep Inside the NBA going at his own production company. The idea would mean Barkley, Shaq, and company would continue to do the award-winning show in Atlanta and sell it to NBC or Amazon.

“I’ve talked to all the guys signing with my production company,” Barkley said. “I would love to do that if we lose [the TV rights] … We’re just siting back waiting on these people to figure out what they’re going to do.”

Later in the interview, Barkley also admitted over the years he’s interviewed for a couple of general manager positions, but declined to name the teams.

“It’s been probably about five to seven years, but I wanted complete control,” Barkley said. “As a general manager or president of basketball operations, you get to fire like four guys before people realize you’re the problem.”