Charles Barkley on future of Inside the NBA: ‘They don’t have any concrete plans’

NBA analyst Charles Barkley announced last week that he will be staying with TNT, despite the network losing the rights to the NBA after the 2024-25 season.

The NBA legend recently joined The Dan Patrick Show and explained his decision.

“I said, ‘What’s the deal?’ And they said, ‘Hey, we’re going to keep doing the show.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’” Charles Barkley recalled. “And they’re like, ‘We’re going to keep doing the show.’

“So I said, ‘Hey, y’all know my No. 1 priority is to keep people working at Turner. That’s always been my No. 1 priority.’ And they said they’re going to keep doing the show. … I don’t have any idea what that means.”

Dan Patrick asked Barkley if it will be a nightly show, kind of like SportsCenter. Barkley informed Patrick that he has no interest in working every day. However, what exactly he will be doing is a mystery.

“I think they’re going to try to figure it out. We won’t have the NBA, so I think they’re going to try to figure it out. … I have zero idea what we’re going to do,” he said. “I truly believe they want to keep people employed at Turner. … And I think we’re going to have to try to figure it out as we go. They couldn’t give me any concrete plans, because they don’t have any concrete plans.”

The fact that there are no details about the future of Inside The NBA could be concerning to someone like Barkley. However, after hearing from some of his friends at TNT who were worried about losing their job, he agreed to stay with the network, even without knowing what exactly he will be doing.

Barkley offered to take a pay cut, but TNT told him it wasn’t necessary. Instead, he will continue to work at the network after signing a 10-year deal worth $210 million in 2022.

“Once they told me we were going to keep people employed at Turner I was good to go. … When I said I was going to retire, that’s because I didn’t want to go work for another network. … I didn’t want to go through the hassle of breaking in another crew and going to another network,” Barkley explained. “I was totally shocked when they said, ‘No, we’re going to keep the show going.’ And I’m like, ‘Well what are we going to do?’ And they said, ‘We’ll figure it out in a year and a half.’

While Barkley is staying at TNT for now, he admitted that he could be on the move down the line.

“The good thing about it, if they get crazy going forward, I don’t have to stay. … I love TNT, I love everybody behind the scenes. The reason I’m staying at TNT is so people can keep their job,” Barkley said. “But that does not mean I’m going to stay there forever. I can promise you that. That’s not going to happen. I’m just happy that a lot of people at Turner are going to keep their jobs.”