Charles Barkley and TNT could be out as NBA reportedly finalizing deals with ESPN, Amazon, and NBC
Warner Bros. Discovery is “prepping its lawyers for a possible inquisition or lawsuit" if it loses broadcast rights to the NBA, Sports Business Journal reported.
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Charles Barkley’s jokes about updating his LinkedIn profile look closer to becoming a reality.
The NBA is finalizing deals with ESPN parent company Disney, Amazon, and NBC to broadcast games beginning with the 2025-26 season, according to Sports Business Journal’s Tom Friend. That would leave TNT, which has televised NBA games since 1989, as the odd network out.
No contracts have been signed, and no announcements will be made this week, according to network sources. TNT’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, has the ability to match NBC’s offer, which could total $2.6 billion a year.
What “matching rights” means appears open to interpretation, and Warner Bros. Discovery could take legal action if the NBA’s focus is beyond simply the amount of the deal, namely NBC’s ability to air games on broadcast television and its proposed TV windows. Sports Business Journal reported that the NBA is “prepping its lawyers for a possible inquisition or lawsuit.”
Either way, the writing could be on the wall for Barkley and the rest of his Inside the NBA colleagues, which include Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith. Johnson, who has worked for TNT nearly his entire professional career, would remain at the network if it loses NBA rights, Sports Business Journal previously reported. That would mean the end of what arguably has been the best studio show in sports history.
Barkley, who has been with TNT since 2000 after retiring from the NBA, has said he has an opt-out in the 10-year contract he signed with TNT in 2022. That means he could land at ESPN, NBC, or Amazon. Or he could retire from television, as the 61-year-old Hall of Famer has promised to do for years.
“I’m not going to work [expletive] forever. I can promise you that,” Barkley told The Inquirer in 2019.
Even if Warner Bros. Discovery loses the NBA, it still has this year’s playoffs and all of next year before the current deal with the league would end.
Here’s what the deals currently look like, according to network sources and various reports, including The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand and The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint:
ESPN would get the “A” package and would continue to broadcast the NBA Finals and one conference final.
NBC would get the “B” package, which could include the NBA playoffs and the other conference final. It also could feature a Sunday night Basketball Night in America spotlight after the NFL season ends along with other prime-time games during the week.
Amazon would get the “C” package and stream games on Prime Video. That reportedly could include the new in-season tournament and some first-round playoff games.
ESPN and Amazon declined to comment. NBC and Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We don’t have to have the NBA,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said during a 2022 RBC investor conference, a comment “that was not well-received at the league’s Fifth Avenue headquarters,” former CNN reporter Tom Kludt wrote in Vanity Fair last week. It looks like Zaslav might soon find out.