The future of “Inside the NBA” was already a touchy subject when Charles Barkley stepped into an elevator late Friday night in Minneapolis after Game 3 of the Western Conference finals. Barkley's candor as an analyst is a big reason the studio show has become so influential and beloved among basketball fans and around the league.
But these are exciting times for the show and those who work on it. Warner Bros. Discovery has not yet acquired the rights to continue broadcasting NBA games on TNT after next season. Without this, the long-term future of “Inside the NBA” is uncertain. So when Barkley, who had already rebuffed several attempts by security and public relations officials to stop him from doing an interview, led me into an elevator full of colleagues, not everyone was happy.
Kenny Smith, Barkley's foil on the screen, expressed his irritation. But Barkley, as he has done for decades in the public eye, made it clear that he would not be muzzled.
“Hey man, I can talk to whoever I want,” Barkley told Smith, using an expletive. Others in the elevator shifted uncomfortably.
“You should do that out there,” said Smith, suggesting the interview take place outside the elevator.
Barkley turned to me, “Don't worry about him.”
“She would have to get it through Turner,” Smith said. “She has to do it the right way.”
Why was it so important for him to talk, I asked Barkley, even though others around him didn't want him to? He nodded to the impact the uncertainty is having on the employees working on the show. And not just the big-name on-air personalities: Barkley, Smith, Shaquille O'Neal and the host, Ernie Johnson.
“It's human lives,” Barkley said. “Not my life. Not Ernie's life. Not Kenny's life. Not Shaq's life. But all the people who work here. We probably have 100 people working on the show. So they are real people. I have seen their children born, graduate from high school, and graduate from college.”
“Inside the NBA” began when Turner Sports acquired the rights to broadcast NBA games in 1989. Johnson became the host in 1990, and Smith joined him in 1998. Barkley's arrival and his unfiltered opinions in 2000 made the show a permanent fixture. Appointment TV for basketball fans and an integral part of the league's culture. O'Neal joined the broadcast in 2011, and the group's irreverent and astute basketball analysis, unencumbered by concerns about access or egos, has endeared the broadcast to viewers and critics. Now, this mainstay of NBA coverage could be in jeopardy — at least in its current form.
Warner Bros. Discovery failed to reach a deal with the NBA during their exclusive negotiating window, leading to reports that the rights may be lost. Warner CEO David Zaslav said had the right to match any offer. When TMZ asked on Thursday about the possibility of losing the show to the NBA said Commissioner Adam Silver: “We're all still talking. Who knows how it will end?”
The nervous feeling surrounding the negotiations is in stark contrast to the freewheeling style that has made “Inside the NBA” so popular.
Early in his tenure, Barkley colorfully declared that he would kiss Smith's backside if Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets, then a relatively unproven 7-foot center from China, scored 19 points in a given game. On another show, to collect the bet, Smith brought out an ass for Barkley to kiss.
In 2018, Rockets players, including former Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul, attempted to approach the Clippers locker room after a close game. The sideline reporter, Ros Gold-Onwude, said there was a police presence at the arena to ensure the incident did not escalate. At the end of her report, O'Neal and Barkley laughed uncontrollablywhile Smith and Johnson tried to calm them down.
As he caught his breath, O'Neal imitated an imagined 911 call: “Hello police?” Chris Paul is trying to beat me up.”
Barkley responded by referring to a Clippers player: “Hey, this is Blake Griffin. Chris Paul tries to get into the locker room! Come here and save me!”
The people working behind the scenes create bold graphics that often accentuate the chatter on air. Other times, writers and producers' ideas became indelible parts of the show. The show is known in the competition as a place where employees feel embraced by a family atmosphere.
“Inside the NBA” also tackles serious issues. For example, in 2014, after a white police officer who killed a black teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri was not charged, the show opened with a frank conversation about the situation.
And its influence among players is undisputed. Dereck Lively, a rookie with the Dallas Mavericks, appeared in a segment this month because an Oklahoma City Thunder player had chased him all over the field as if they were playing tag. Lively's friends excitedly sent him the video.
“There aren't many people who are around at times like that,” he said.
A few days later, Lively's teammate Daniel Gafford was a postgame guest on the show's in-arena set. During the match he had roared and punched his chest. On the “Inside the NBA” set, he smiled shyly even when Barkley called him by the wrong name.
“I'm happy to be here with you,” Gafford said. “It's a great honour.”
Barkley told Gafford that there were times during his own illustrious NBA career when he cried and wondered if he was even any good at basketball. He asked Gafford if he had ever wondered that about himself. Gafford said yes.
If the show goes away, Lively says, the competition will lose “one of the lighthearted ones but also one of the places where people aren't afraid to say what they want to say.”
“All those four guys, everyone has a lot of respect for those four guys,” Lively continued. “When they talk, people listen.”
He added: “Losing that connection will hurt the competition.”
When the Timberwolves defeated the Denver Nuggets to reach the conference finals, Barkley told Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards that he hadn't been to Minnesota in decades. Edwards replied, “Bring you along,” causing one civil battle cry for everyone from the local symphony orchestra to the governor of Minnesota.
“Inside the NBA” is typically filmed in a studio in Atlanta, but the show was on site at the Target Center for the Western Conference finals between the Timberwolves and the Dallas Mavericks.
As fans filed into the arena in Minneapolis on Friday night, many found the set and waited for the stars to arrive. They held jerseys and signs just like they would for an NBA team.
Karen Steele, 51, held up a hand-drawn sign that read: “We love Charles.” Her sister had bet her $50 that she couldn't get a photo with Barkley, so she was there to try.
“He's real,” Steele said. When Edwards made his comment, “some people may not have reacted well,” she added. “He responded great. Our city loves him. He was an incredible basketball player. He's fun to watch.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Barkley has been the most vocal about the show's future.
This month, Barley said he had a clause in his contract that allowed him to leave if TNT lost the NBA
During a more recent appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” Barkley lambasted Warner Bros. management. Discovery. He never mentioned Zaslav, the CEO, by name, but referred to the company's leaders as “clowns.”
“When we merged, that was the first thing our boss said: 'We don't need the NBA,'” Barkley said. “Well, he doesn't need it. But the rest of the people, me, Kenny, Shaq and Ernie and the people who work there, we need it.”
The other “Inside the NBA” stars were quieter.
Before the pregame show on Friday, O'Neal sat courtside and chatted with passersby. When asked for an interview, he grinned and said, “We haven't been allowed to talk since Chuck's outburst.” Perhaps he was joking, although a TNT PR official later said the cast had not been asked not to speak.
When approached for an interview, Johnson referred me to the PR team. TNT had declined to arrange interviews with her talent for this article. After the game, Johnson interrupted Barkley's interview as he left the elevator to berate me for approaching him without company permission.
Because TNT does not air the NBA Finals, the show's season ends after the Western Conference Finals. Game 4 is Tuesday night, with Dallas holding a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. “Inside the NBA” will return next season, but whether it will be the last remains to be seen.
“I love my job,” Barkley said. “We have been working with these people for 24 years, we have a lot of fun together. And we hope it stays that way. We hope so, but we have no control over it.”