Ernie Johnson explains reason 'Inside the NBA' works with big personalities like Charles Barkley, Shaq

TNT‘s “Inside the NBA” crew of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal are a close bunch, having broadcasted alongside each other since 2011.

The quartet have cemented themselves as the gold standard of NBA pregame and postgame shows, with their personalties and chemistry leading the way. Making an appearance this week on the “Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” Johnson explained in detail what makes the show work so well.

“We love each other, truly…I grew up with two older sisters and this is as close as I’ll ever come to having brothers.”

– Ernie Johnson (@TurnerSportsEJ) describes the special bond between he, Shaq, Charles, & Kenny plus much more on this week’s #SouthBeachSessions🌴

📺… pic.twitter.com/hd7P4u0ze6

— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) June 2, 2023

“Nobody tries to make themselves the show,” Johnson said, via Awful Announcing. “They’ve never tried to make the show about themselves. I’m in the fortunate position of getting us from point A to point B to point C with three guys who have been in every conceivable situation in a basketball game.

“So nobody cares at home what I think about what might be being said in the huddle with 1.7 seconds to go. They want to hear from the guys who have been there. So it’s up to me to try to bring out the best in these three guys. Knowing your role is vital. If you try to stray outside your lane and be something you aren’t, then it doesn’t work. The fact that we don’t rehearse and the fact that we just let’r rip – there you go.”

Johnson continued, saying the four share a brother-like bond.

“And I would do the same for them. We all would,” Johnson said. “That’s what comes with years of being together. We love each other. Truly. I grew up with two older sisters and this is as close as I’ll ever come to having brothers. And that’s what they are to me.”

Ernie Johnson has unbreakable bond with ‘Inside the NBA’ crew

Johnson later shared a story of an edition of “Inside the NBA” which aired in the aftermath of Kobe Bryant’s sudden passing in January 2020.

“I remember Shaq on that night saying on the air that, ‘I don’t say this enough to you guys, but I love you.’ And we do. I think one thing that whole moment of time taught all of us was that you don’t know how long you have,” Johnson said. “It behooves us to make sure that everything’s cool between us. Not just between the four of us on the show, but between everybody in your life.

“That if the unthinkable happens, do you want to leave that with, ‘Man I wish I had said this. I wish that silly feud, I could have stepped up and defused it. I wish I could have said this.’ And I think it was a pretty brutal reminder of that.”