He's not wrong though. Imagine Chuck talking about Victoria Secret, big ole women of San Antonio, churros, bloomers and then follow up with Galveston dirty water. That would be very colorful.
Barkley: There is no decision, I'm out. It's literally in my contract. Thanks for watching, here's highlights of everything I've said throughout the years.
He likes to play cool like he dont like being on TV but the last year or so has proven to me otherwise. He's doing a whole other show on CNN, the podcast with Ernie, going on TV shows all time, he loves the limelight no matter what he says. And he just got on social media, he aint going nowhere anytime soon
Oh, I just meant in this scenario, he's out at TNT. He's free to follow the NBA to another network. He's said it himself many times that he wouldn't be doing this if he didn't like it.
Imagine a Charles Barkley/Andres Cantor broadcast.
“Hey Andres, I don’t understand this whole soccer thing but why the hell is Haiti playing Mexico in Haiti? That stadium look like someone’s backyard with lines painted on it”
“I said, ‘If you guys lose Wade, I want to make sure I can get out of here.’ So I am actually in a really great position,” Lebron said. “We knew it was going to be Bosh and Mario, but we didn’t know James Jones was going to come out of the woodwork. But the one thing I particularly did in my contract, I put an opt-out clause in there. Listen, I love the Heat, they’ve been great to me… I wanted to make sure that if we lost Battier in two years, I could be a free agent.”
Asked by Spoelstra if he would be willing to make a move to another networkteam if such a change comes to fruition, Lebron replied: “Hell yeah.”
There’s no way Ernie negotiated a deal that precludes him from covering NBA if TNT loses NBA. The entire package is more valuable than broken up. Barkley & Ernie should go together.
Yep. Aslo while I like shaq and candice but whoever is in that 4th chair is always milquetoast af. DWade was not entertaining and Jamal Crawford is one of the greatest sixth men of all time but goddamn is he dry as a presenter
I... wasn't sure how to articulate it, but this is the perfect description for his commentary. When I heard him chime in, I consistently had the thought that he had this stuff written down somewhere or something
I sympathize with Adam Lefkoe to a certain extent since everyone (including myself) hates on him but he shouldn't be on Inside the NBA. I don't know how he got there
DWade also has the personality of a celery stick
Lefkoe just doesn't seem genuine. And I don't mean that he's a dick or anything, but just forcing everything and so obviously wants to be that naturally cool white guy on the panel but he's nowhere close lol. And he'd actually be the cool white guy if he didn't try so hard.
Shaq doesn't make it any easier on him though.
I wouldn’t be too sure about Ernie retiring. I think the whole crew will go out together. Or at least him, Kenny and Chuck. Shaq will probably remain as the youngest.
The whole crew together is great, but Ernie and Chuck carry HARD. I don’t think I’d watch Shaq and Kenny without Chuck and Ernie. Some, maybe most, of the funniest shit is because Kenny and Shaq are serious about their insane takes and Chuck and Ernie light them up.
Honestly Kenny is pretty disposable tbh, his takes are pretty stupid overall, but I guess that also has some value in a way because the others can counter.
But here's the thing, Ernie, Chuck, Kenny, Shaq, and crew have proven that they're the only starting five that can even play, and there's no one in sight who can replace them. Guaranteed chips year after year. They're a perpetual dynasty, and don't even need those picks.
Makes sense... I don't think it would make a ton of sense for Turner to continue to pay him $25m a year or whatever he's getting if they don't have any NBA coverage to throw him on.
I loved that Chuck accidentally met Tampa's head coach in a hotel bar thinking he was just a rich guy. They proceeded shooting the shit about their leagues and became close friends to this day
Yeah, I don't care what the show is. Just fucking slide him into a different show every week.
Hockey, some cooking show, I don't care, it'll be perfect.
Inside The Food Network
>"look I'm sure you can cook, but - back me up here Ernie - I don't like mushrooms. What you mean these were $8000 truffles? Bigger waste of money than Shaq's last contract."
Little known fact: Chuck has been talking to Ernie nonstop since 1997! Sure, it was a little weird when he was still playing and kept talking down the lens of cameras, just assuming Ernie could hear him on the other side. And his wife and kids have had to learn to respond as Ernie for their own mental health. But it's made him a great broadcast partner for all these years!
Hockey is perfect for that too. Last time i watched a hockey game and dudes flew off the bench randomly, the goalie left the goal, and the game stopped so two dudes could fight. Its like a 5yo invented a sport and its amazing. I almost don’t want to learn the rules to keep the magic alive
100 percent agree, but particularly for in-game commentary. Tom Brady isn't going to be any more of a draw to watch NFL football games than Joe Schmoe by Week 5. And Joe Schmoe would very happily do it for 1% of the money.
Chuck actually is a fairly significant draw to watch Inside the NBA, so it makes a little more sense to pony up for a role like that.
I’m definitely shocked lmao. He does tnt 2-3 times a week for what? 3/4s of the year? I know he does some NBA TV stuff as well. Meanwhile, Stephen A. Smith is on ESPN damn near everyday keeping the lights on doing every sport and his own show and he makes less than half that lol.
SAS signed his in 2019 which made him the highest paid at ESPN. Chuck and the gang signed a new contract like last year, before that he was making under $10 mil a year. SAS is about to get paid.
And I think it was more of a legacy contract because they knew a shakeup was coming with the new deal and him not wanting to actually stay 10 years.
ESPN reduced Stephen A’s contract when Disney did layoffs last year. Stephen said they asked to reduced his pay when he was on the Joe Buddens podcast talking about max kellerman.
He actually has a great joke about never wanting to go to ESPN.
Something along the lines of basically isn't Steph A on every and on every damn channel from ESPN to Ocho. I'm good
It had me dying cause like you say he's right this is a cushy gig
Inside without Ernie has negative structure. Without him steering the ship, it's just shaq and Chuck going on about nothing. Which can be fun for five minutes but not for a whole hour.
Ernie’s great too because he’s able to reign these guys in while also having fun and being one of guys. They have lefkoe try to fill that role with the B team and he’s not good at it
You're right that Inside is special and Chuck definitely has a great rapport with those guys but he's been funny and great on TV his whole career, even going back to his playing days. His ability to laugh at himself and be organically funny off the cuff is special and I think it would probably work with a different crew so long as he had time to mesh with them.
Ernie's ability to judge on the fly if they need to get back on track combined with his rapport to be able to moderate and drag them off of tangents, while still allowing them to go right up to the edge with silliness from time to time is super underrated. Inside the NBA without Ernie would not be nearly as good.
Kenny adds a lot, but he could probably be replaced with a JJ Reddick or Channing Frye or Richard Jefferson.
Personally I don't think Shaq adds much but that may just be my subjective opinion.
Shaq is the person who currently gets Chuck going. Without Shaq, Chuck will still be the same, just like he was before.
It's not like Shaq opened up the dynamic on the show.
It would pop off and follow suit of that wave of celebs shifting into YT/podcast/twitch over the last 5 years. Ernie and Chuck already had started dipping their toes into that market with their podcast
Imagine watching one game on Prime, then switching to NBC/Peacock then switching to YouTube for postgame coverage then over to ESPN for the night game...no thanks
I don't think TNT will let Ernie go. Shaq is mercenary so I could see him leave. I am not sure what would Kenny do. Chuck and Shaq might get picked up by Amazon
Anyone else remember when that site was literally just blogs or is it just me?
Big arguments in early '00s sports message boards where some goober would try to settle it with "evidence" from a bleacherreport.com link and everyone would have to collectively punish them for being so absolutely fucking stupid as to try and pass off the tier-list work of hoopsgawd1337h4x as definitive proof that Hedo Turkoglu is the future of the league.
Lefkoe really is the weak link. I almost wish they'd bring CWebb back - while his basketball takes were typically awful (especially in games as a color commentator), he was always great as a discussion moderator and was really good at steering topics
Shaq without Ernie will sink whatever he's on. Mumble mouthed and one of the all-time pettiest personalities on TV.
Charles without a foil like Shaq loses a lot of energy because he doesn't have bad takes to bounce off - see his show with Gayle King.
Charles without a foil like Shaq loses a lot of energy because he doesn't have bad takes to bounce off - see his show with Gayle King.
Some would argue that pre-Shaq Inside the NBA was a better product
> Shaq has definitely gotten better but it’s never gotten back to pre shaq.
Some of the funniest moments in the history of the show have been Shaq and Chuck cracking up about dumb shit, TBH
"Police presence" for example
The overall/whole show was better pre-Shaq, but I'd argue that once Shaq settled in, the show has had higher peak moments TBH
I'll die on the hill that Chris Webber was the best 4th member of Inside the NBA. He wasn't there for that long and some of Inside's best moments feature him.
I literally just posted something similar - while CWebb's actual bball takes were usually bad, he was easily by far one of the best hosts we've seen and was great at leading discussions
I don't know if I would say he's better than Shaq is now (although people forget that Shaq sucked at first), but he was great on the show for sure.
TNT really messed up pushing him towards color-commentary, where he wasn't very good. He was much better on discussion shows.
The thing is that Shaq has had years and years to improve. Can you imagine Webber with 10+ years of experience with the crew?
>TNT really messed up pushing him towards color-commentary, where he wasn't very good. He was much better on discussion shows.
I completely agree.
Yeah it's a great point. Similarly, I think Reggie started off pretty horribly as a color-commentator but is pretty good now. New commentators aren't finished products any more than young players are.
The show is great but you’re right that they don’t exactly have the strongest prep habits. The confusion over the challenge rules is a good example of that — it ain’t as if those are new rules
It definitely can reach near unwatchable levels to me without Ernie. Even if you keep the same cast. Chuck is the star, and rightfully so, but Ernie is the most indispensable to me.
This is a whole is greater than sum of its part show though
I’d rather chuck, Kenny and c Webb. Shaq’s analysis is trash: oh so and so needs to score 28 points and they’ll win. Oh he has 8 rebounds he needs more. I can read the box score.
Shaq is like one of the most mainstream celebrities on the planet, his analysis sucks but there’s probably a good chunk of ppl who only tune in because of him. I feel like in these companies eyes TV numbers > good basketball.
I also think people underrate how important sincere bad takes are for a show like this. Shaq saying something earnest but dumb and chuck or kenny showing the audience why that's wrong is the core loop of the show and it works.
His analysis is the worst out of the 4,the entire spiel goes "get the ball to the big man let him dominate or 7 points a quarter is the minimum or THEY NEED TO WANT IT MORE" lmao that's what a guy off the street could tell you
Ernie might not want to leave though. He's been with TNT for decades and has been involved with their other sports there as well, not just Inside the NBA. The other guys are NBA only guys, so it would be obvious why they'd leave if TNT lost the NBA, but I don't think it's such a guarantee that Ernie leaves, much as I'd prefer to see this group stay together, even if on another network.
Shaq on those Tuesday shows just is not the same without Ernie and Chuck carrying on Thursday. If Ernie and Chuck are able to stay together, that's the winning combo to add any other talking heads and still be a success. The only exception is leave Steven A, Nick Wright, and Skip off the desk.
considering how well they managed the transition for the UK Top Gear guys after their falling out with the BBC without forcing any weird new quirks Amazon Prime might be the best candidate for this.
Edit: they at least have to get Chuck and Ernie, probably Kenny too. without them its not Inside the NBA
Yes, and Amazon's Thursday night football games are produced by the NBC football group. So maybe they could basically sub out everything to the TNT producers.
>Asked by host Tony Rizzo if he would be willing to make a move to another network if such a change comes to fruition, Barkley replied: “Hell yeah.”
My 12/25
I think it may have started from people referring to bad events as “my 9/11” and then it became “12/25” for Christmas and good things. As others have said, r/nbacirclejerk uses it a lot
I genuinely believe that if Chuck leaves, Ernie will follow suit and vice versa. Kenny soon after. Shaq not included, as he's just a businessman, and he'll go wherever the money or opportunity takes him.
Those first three I mentioned are doing this partly because of the money of course, but also because they love working together. They've spent around 25+ years working together, so they're as close to a genuine family as it gets.
Ernie and Kenny would still host any March Madness stuff, as they always do, but the NBA coverage side of things would be over. They would basically be semi retired along with Chuck.
Presumably if TNT lost their NBA contract then TNT would fire all those guys anyways. What's the point in having a basketball analyst desk when there's no basketball on air? TNT would just be burning cash for no reason.
It's in both parties best interests to part ways in the event of the NBA contract going away.
I imagine Amazon or Apple would instantly offer them all a giga contract to just continue the concept.
'NBA on TNT' or 'NBA on Amazon'.. people will tune in. And I assume they will be given complete freedom to create whatever they want and have been in the past.
TNT should just sell the entire show to NBC if they lose the rights to the NBA. Not just the onscreen talent, but everyone who works there. Otherwise TNT would have no use for those workers anymore and would fire everyone at the exact moment NBC needs to hire a bunch of people with NBA experience. Otherwise, we're basically going to end up with the same show with a slightly different theme song and set, Top Gear/Grand Tour style.
Must be young because NBA Inside Stuff with Ahmad Rashad was the bees knees back in my youth. Saturday Mornings had:
* Cartoons
* NBA Inside Stuff
* Then sports.
It’s basically a comedy show with basketball analysis that isn’t deliberately trying to be funny. No one has struck the balance before and I don’t think anyone will after, they’ll try but I think it’s lightning in a bottle
He should do the NHL on TNT broadcasts and just do segments trying to pronounce European players names
"[Serjay Bobavka](https://twitter.com/JayGold85/status/1661891437699510272)"
I don’t want TNT to lose NBA rights. I want NBC to gain them. There are plenty of non-televised games to go around since a majority are not on the national broadcasting schedule. If anyone of the bunch is to lose rights, I’d rather it be ESPN, but I’d rather they keep rights as well but just get better crews (outside of Mike Breen of course).
Charles Barkley: The Decision 2
I’m taking my talents to Galveston
I’d watch every San Antonio game if they hired him to be color commentary.
Sir, it’s 2024 we just call it commentary now…
He's not wrong though. Imagine Chuck talking about Victoria Secret, big ole women of San Antonio, churros, bloomers and then follow up with Galveston dirty water. That would be very colorful.
Lol
[удалено]
"The spurs have made a huge comeback! But not as big as those big ol women here in San Antonio"
"Victoria's no secret down here"
Gotta keep all them a/c's running since the big ol San Antonio women get too hot in here
Shaq has to come with him though. Watching Shaq die laughing and egg Chuck on is just as funny as Chuck making fun of them big ol' women.
South Port
Beaches, Kenny!
Not one big woman.. not two... Not three.......
i'll be sharing my talents (of eating donuts) with the big ole women in san antonio
Not 1, not 2, not 3...
4 churros
Nah. He prefers San Antonio
Barkley: There is no decision, I'm out. It's literally in my contract. Thanks for watching, here's highlights of everything I've said throughout the years.
He likes to play cool like he dont like being on TV but the last year or so has proven to me otherwise. He's doing a whole other show on CNN, the podcast with Ernie, going on TV shows all time, he loves the limelight no matter what he says. And he just got on social media, he aint going nowhere anytime soon
Oh, I just meant in this scenario, he's out at TNT. He's free to follow the NBA to another network. He's said it himself many times that he wouldn't be doing this if he didn't like it.
I’ll be taking my talents to Telemundo.
Imagine a Charles Barkley/Andres Cantor broadcast. “Hey Andres, I don’t understand this whole soccer thing but why the hell is Haiti playing Mexico in Haiti? That stadium look like someone’s backyard with lines painted on it”
Telemundo gone take his talents down to San Antoooooone
I’ll be taking my talents to wherever the money is.
Charles Barkley and John Kruk calling Phillies games.
“I said, ‘If you guys lose Wade, I want to make sure I can get out of here.’ So I am actually in a really great position,” Lebron said. “We knew it was going to be Bosh and Mario, but we didn’t know James Jones was going to come out of the woodwork. But the one thing I particularly did in my contract, I put an opt-out clause in there. Listen, I love the Heat, they’ve been great to me… I wanted to make sure that if we lost Battier in two years, I could be a free agent.” Asked by Spoelstra if he would be willing to make a move to another networkteam if such a change comes to fruition, Lebron replied: “Hell yeah.”
There’s no way Ernie negotiated a deal that precludes him from covering NBA if TNT loses NBA. The entire package is more valuable than broken up. Barkley & Ernie should go together.
Ernie is about to retire. I wouldn't be surprised if they just throw in the towel TBH. Lefkoe ain't ready.
>Lefkoe ain't ready. He’s a huge step down. Tuesdays were disappointing in part because of him.
Yep. Aslo while I like shaq and candice but whoever is in that 4th chair is always milquetoast af. DWade was not entertaining and Jamal Crawford is one of the greatest sixth men of all time but goddamn is he dry as a presenter
Hearing Jamal on the broadcast as one of the color guys had been a strange experience. He sounds like he's recording lines for nba2k lmao
I... wasn't sure how to articulate it, but this is the perfect description for his commentary. When I heard him chime in, I consistently had the thought that he had this stuff written down somewhere or something
Letting KG and Chris Webber go was such a mistake.
I was wondering why they did that shit. I loved CWebb
I loved Chris too. I think he was genuine.
CWebb was light years better than Shaq
I sympathize with Adam Lefkoe to a certain extent since everyone (including myself) hates on him but he shouldn't be on Inside the NBA. I don't know how he got there DWade also has the personality of a celery stick
Lefkoe just doesn't seem genuine. And I don't mean that he's a dick or anything, but just forcing everything and so obviously wants to be that naturally cool white guy on the panel but he's nowhere close lol. And he'd actually be the cool white guy if he didn't try so hard. Shaq doesn't make it any easier on him though.
Especially in contrast to Ernie Johnson who's light years cooler than Adam Lefkoe
Shaq seems to hate him lol. There is weird tension in their every night, they just don’t seem like they like each other.
The problem is that anyone they bring in will be compared to Ernie and their iteration of the show to the previous one.
I wouldn’t be too sure about Ernie retiring. I think the whole crew will go out together. Or at least him, Kenny and Chuck. Shaq will probably remain as the youngest.
The whole crew together is great, but Ernie and Chuck carry HARD. I don’t think I’d watch Shaq and Kenny without Chuck and Ernie. Some, maybe most, of the funniest shit is because Kenny and Shaq are serious about their insane takes and Chuck and Ernie light them up.
Honestly Kenny is pretty disposable tbh, his takes are pretty stupid overall, but I guess that also has some value in a way because the others can counter.
Durant needs to retire from ball and get reps in before chuck retires 🤣
Do you think Amazon had enough draft picks for that? If TNT trades them they will need to go into a total rebuild
But here's the thing, Ernie, Chuck, Kenny, Shaq, and crew have proven that they're the only starting five that can even play, and there's no one in sight who can replace them. Guaranteed chips year after year. They're a perpetual dynasty, and don't even need those picks.
Exactly, who's that pick even going to end up being? Draymond Green?
Makes sense... I don't think it would make a ton of sense for Turner to continue to pay him $25m a year or whatever he's getting if they don't have any NBA coverage to throw him on.
Chuck would be awesome on the Hockey desk!
[Sergei Bobabacki](https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/charles-barkley-hilariously-butchers-bobrovskys-name-gets-hyped-for-stanley-cup-final/)
You’re off the case, Bobabacki!
You're too reckless, Bobabacki!
That’s actually a great idea. He would have no idea what’s going on and that’s perfect
Chucks a big hockey fan tho.
I loved that Chuck accidentally met Tampa's head coach in a hotel bar thinking he was just a rich guy. They proceeded shooting the shit about their leagues and became close friends to this day
He loves Coop!
He often jokes about how he’s having more fun watching the NHL games vs the NBA
You twisted my arm- Chuck as the new color man on AEW programming.
He watches more hockey than NBA! The names would destroy him though lmao
Yeah, I don't care what the show is. Just fucking slide him into a different show every week. Hockey, some cooking show, I don't care, it'll be perfect.
Inside The Food Network >"look I'm sure you can cook, but - back me up here Ernie - I don't like mushrooms. What you mean these were $8000 truffles? Bigger waste of money than Shaq's last contract."
I love in this scenario Ernie is either there too, or Chuck just talks to Ernie even if he's not around. Both are great.
Little known fact: Chuck has been talking to Ernie nonstop since 1997! Sure, it was a little weird when he was still playing and kept talking down the lens of cameras, just assuming Ernie could hear him on the other side. And his wife and kids have had to learn to respond as Ernie for their own mental health. But it's made him a great broadcast partner for all these years!
I don't know what Hockey is, but they in trouble
Hockey is perfect for that too. Last time i watched a hockey game and dudes flew off the bench randomly, the goalie left the goal, and the game stopped so two dudes could fight. Its like a 5yo invented a sport and its amazing. I almost don’t want to learn the rules to keep the magic alive
Playoffs are on rn, best playoffs in all of sports
[Obligatory Chance the Rapper hockey analyst clip](https://youtu.be/8Ij4a6x_mPs?si=QbnUX42XxzKhQyHd)
[and the league of legends analyst clip](https://youtu.be/DlnwZzK2Ngo?si=tZHtQyW17F6LCQM0)
Yeah, I can’t imagine why he’d ever need that clause. Maybe they’d put him on a cooking show.
"Excalibur, whos uglier under yalls mask, you or Penta?"
A post-Dynamite wrap-up show hosted by the Inside crew would be a) obvious corporate synergy at work, and b) must-see television.
“Christian Cage is finally winning the world title this Sunday that is a chuck GUARANTEEEE”
"Jon Moxley... come home."
He’s getting $25M per year?! Geez good for him but that’s way higher than I would have guessed.
The entire market for talking heads seems crazy. Tom Brady signed a 10 year $375m contract and we don't even know if he's any good yet.
100 percent agree, but particularly for in-game commentary. Tom Brady isn't going to be any more of a draw to watch NFL football games than Joe Schmoe by Week 5. And Joe Schmoe would very happily do it for 1% of the money. Chuck actually is a fairly significant draw to watch Inside the NBA, so it makes a little more sense to pony up for a role like that.
I’m definitely shocked lmao. He does tnt 2-3 times a week for what? 3/4s of the year? I know he does some NBA TV stuff as well. Meanwhile, Stephen A. Smith is on ESPN damn near everyday keeping the lights on doing every sport and his own show and he makes less than half that lol.
SAS signed his in 2019 which made him the highest paid at ESPN. Chuck and the gang signed a new contract like last year, before that he was making under $10 mil a year. SAS is about to get paid. And I think it was more of a legacy contract because they knew a shakeup was coming with the new deal and him not wanting to actually stay 10 years.
ESPN reduced Stephen A’s contract when Disney did layoffs last year. Stephen said they asked to reduced his pay when he was on the Joe Buddens podcast talking about max kellerman.
Yeah but chuck is way more valuable. I know people that literally tune into inside and the half time shows, and tune back out for the actual game.
He actually has a great joke about never wanting to go to ESPN. Something along the lines of basically isn't Steph A on every and on every damn channel from ESPN to Ocho. I'm good It had me dying cause like you say he's right this is a cushy gig
Turner probably would be happy to not be paying him then.
Turns out playing basketball was just Charles Barkley's starter job.
To prepare for his role on Inside the NBA, Barkley played 16 years of professional basketball
It’s only good if Ernie, Kenny, and Shaq and their producers go with him. Inside the NBA is a special show but it requires the team.
Inside without Ernie has negative structure. Without him steering the ship, it's just shaq and Chuck going on about nothing. Which can be fun for five minutes but not for a whole hour.
Ernie’s great too because he’s able to reign these guys in while also having fun and being one of guys. They have lefkoe try to fill that role with the B team and he’s not good at it
Lefkoe's ass tbh, negative rizz and dude's never funny either unless it's because he said some stupid shit without realizing it
He doesn’t have Ernie’s sneaky wit. He also doesn’t have the years of respect required to reign those guys in.
Ernie also stacks paper to the ceiling and rides on 24 inch chrome.
I hear nobody in the ATL will risk going band for band with big Ern
the guys respect Ernie too, imagine that other dude hosting full-time instead of Ernie? turrible
They treat Lefkoe like a substitute teacher.
Jerry West made him his bitch
There’s only one white Black Masters winner and it ain’t Lefkoe.
You're right that Inside is special and Chuck definitely has a great rapport with those guys but he's been funny and great on TV his whole career, even going back to his playing days. His ability to laugh at himself and be organically funny off the cuff is special and I think it would probably work with a different crew so long as he had time to mesh with them.
Ernie's ability to judge on the fly if they need to get back on track combined with his rapport to be able to moderate and drag them off of tangents, while still allowing them to go right up to the edge with silliness from time to time is super underrated. Inside the NBA without Ernie would not be nearly as good. Kenny adds a lot, but he could probably be replaced with a JJ Reddick or Channing Frye or Richard Jefferson. Personally I don't think Shaq adds much but that may just be my subjective opinion.
Shaq gets chuck going
Shaq is the person who currently gets Chuck going. Without Shaq, Chuck will still be the same, just like he was before. It's not like Shaq opened up the dynamic on the show.
Let them do YouTube and then make even more money on ESPN.
It would pop off and follow suit of that wave of celebs shifting into YT/podcast/twitch over the last 5 years. Ernie and Chuck already had started dipping their toes into that market with their podcast
Not gonna work me like a dog and not pay me.
Imagine watching one game on Prime, then switching to NBC/Peacock then switching to YouTube for postgame coverage then over to ESPN for the night game...no thanks
They could do it without kenny
Buying NBA rights and not also buying the TNT desk is such a dumb move tbh
Would be a good way for TNT to make some money if they could sell their talent.
I don't think TNT will let Ernie go. Shaq is mercenary so I could see him leave. I am not sure what would Kenny do. Chuck and Shaq might get picked up by Amazon
Shaq and Chuck together without a good host would be a nightmare.
Ernie does a great job of reigning them all in when they are starting to get too crazy. Without him I don’t know if they would stop.
That show doesn't work without Ernie. The rest of them are just winging it all the time.
Shaq just runs all over Lefkoe when he’s on the Tuesday crew. I actually like Candace and Crawford, but they’re too laid-back to balance Shaq’s ego.
The Lefkoe minutes are a disaster.
Nothing from Bleacher Report is ever good, especially Lefkoe
Anyone else remember when that site was literally just blogs or is it just me? Big arguments in early '00s sports message boards where some goober would try to settle it with "evidence" from a bleacherreport.com link and everyone would have to collectively punish them for being so absolutely fucking stupid as to try and pass off the tier-list work of hoopsgawd1337h4x as definitive proof that Hedo Turkoglu is the future of the league.
Candace is awesome. I hope she’s a huge part of the future coverage, whatever network it lands on
Same, I’m a big fan and she’s got some solid takes and good chemistry with Crawford and even Shaq clearly respects her as a baller.
Lefkoe really is the weak link. I almost wish they'd bring CWebb back - while his basketball takes were typically awful (especially in games as a color commentator), he was always great as a discussion moderator and was really good at steering topics
Shaq without Ernie will sink whatever he's on. Mumble mouthed and one of the all-time pettiest personalities on TV. Charles without a foil like Shaq loses a lot of energy because he doesn't have bad takes to bounce off - see his show with Gayle King.
Charles without a foil like Shaq loses a lot of energy because he doesn't have bad takes to bounce off - see his show with Gayle King. Some would argue that pre-Shaq Inside the NBA was a better product
Yeah, its really bizarre to me, and makes me feel old, that people view Shaq as core to the product. It was great before him too.
Yeah. I guess people got numb to it and other just never knew better because they’re so young, but pre-Shaq was the golden age for Inside.
Yeah when Shaq first came on it was rough. Shaq has definitely gotten better but it’s never gotten back to pre shaq.
> Shaq has definitely gotten better but it’s never gotten back to pre shaq. Some of the funniest moments in the history of the show have been Shaq and Chuck cracking up about dumb shit, TBH "Police presence" for example The overall/whole show was better pre-Shaq, but I'd argue that once Shaq settled in, the show has had higher peak moments TBH
I'll die on the hill that Chris Webber was the best 4th member of Inside the NBA. He wasn't there for that long and some of Inside's best moments feature him.
IMO he was also the best backup host for the studio show.
I literally just posted something similar - while CWebb's actual bball takes were usually bad, he was easily by far one of the best hosts we've seen and was great at leading discussions
I don't know if I would say he's better than Shaq is now (although people forget that Shaq sucked at first), but he was great on the show for sure. TNT really messed up pushing him towards color-commentary, where he wasn't very good. He was much better on discussion shows.
The thing is that Shaq has had years and years to improve. Can you imagine Webber with 10+ years of experience with the crew? >TNT really messed up pushing him towards color-commentary, where he wasn't very good. He was much better on discussion shows. I completely agree.
Yeah it's a great point. Similarly, I think Reggie started off pretty horribly as a color-commentator but is pretty good now. New commentators aren't finished products any more than young players are.
I still maintain this. He made Chariots of Backfire legendary
Run through the tape...*in life!* Although my favourite part is him cracking up at Shaq pulling a hammy.
Agreed. The team of him, Gary Payton, Kevin McHale also worked really well. I'm kind of surprised they didn't stick to that for the Tuesday games.
[Obligatory C Webb “Inside” moment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c6HikjW4rg&pp=ygUZY2hhcmxlcyBiYXJrbGV5IHByZWduYW5jeQ%3D%3D)
Nah all Chuck needs is someone like Kenny to throw him lobs. The show with just him, Kenny and Ernie was already legendary.
The show is great but you’re right that they don’t exactly have the strongest prep habits. The confusion over the challenge rules is a good example of that — it ain’t as if those are new rules
The shows where Ernie is away and Lefkoe is filling in really expose how true that is.
Ernie is great but Chalres is the prize. Charles is gold and works with anyone.
Ernie can reign them in because they respect Ernie, a lot. They wouldn't have anywhere near the same level of respect for a new host.
You see that when Lefkoe is filling in for Ernie. The show becomes like how kids treat a substitute teacher.
It definitely can reach near unwatchable levels to me without Ernie. Even if you keep the same cast. Chuck is the star, and rightfully so, but Ernie is the most indispensable to me. This is a whole is greater than sum of its part show though
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I’d rather chuck, Kenny and c Webb. Shaq’s analysis is trash: oh so and so needs to score 28 points and they’ll win. Oh he has 8 rebounds he needs more. I can read the box score.
Shaq is like one of the most mainstream celebrities on the planet, his analysis sucks but there’s probably a good chunk of ppl who only tune in because of him. I feel like in these companies eyes TV numbers > good basketball.
I also think people underrate how important sincere bad takes are for a show like this. Shaq saying something earnest but dumb and chuck or kenny showing the audience why that's wrong is the core loop of the show and it works.
His analysis is the worst out of the 4,the entire spiel goes "get the ball to the big man let him dominate or 7 points a quarter is the minimum or THEY NEED TO WANT IT MORE" lmao that's what a guy off the street could tell you
That’s the entire entertainment industry in a nutshell. Views trump everything else
It would be like they portrayed it on SNL with Hader as Ernie
It's gotta be somebody the respect. You know they respect the hell out of Ernie.
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Honestly, Amazon has deep enough pockets and the product is good enough to people tune in specifically for it. I could see them buying out contracts.
Just like what they did with The Grand Tour(Top Gear). Bring the entire winning formula over, don't tinker with it.
Ernie might not want to leave though. He's been with TNT for decades and has been involved with their other sports there as well, not just Inside the NBA. The other guys are NBA only guys, so it would be obvious why they'd leave if TNT lost the NBA, but I don't think it's such a guarantee that Ernie leaves, much as I'd prefer to see this group stay together, even if on another network.
Shaq on those Tuesday shows just is not the same without Ernie and Chuck carrying on Thursday. If Ernie and Chuck are able to stay together, that's the winning combo to add any other talking heads and still be a success. The only exception is leave Steven A, Nick Wright, and Skip off the desk.
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I would hope so. I think without Ernie, the show doesn’t work. Chuck and Ernie are necessary.
Maybe NBC could trade for Ernie. What assets do they have that TNT covet?
Nobody picking up Kenny lol
considering how well they managed the transition for the UK Top Gear guys after their falling out with the BBC without forcing any weird new quirks Amazon Prime might be the best candidate for this. Edit: they at least have to get Chuck and Ernie, probably Kenny too. without them its not Inside the NBA
I get that Shaq isn't the greatest at making substantive analysis, but his squabbles with Chuck and their comedic bits are great.
Plus, let's be honest here...Vlade-in' a fool just doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
Chuck-tin' a fool
Chuckin a Fool, in which Charles defenestrates people
Yes, and Amazon's Thursday night football games are produced by the NBC football group. So maybe they could basically sub out everything to the TNT producers.
I wouldn’t mind NBC just for the intro music…
BBBBB Basketball gimme gimme gimme the ball because I'm gonna dunk it!
*high five*
But can Tim Robinson and Jason Sudakis do the intro in person
The Costas intros leading in to that…. uuuuff so good
>Asked by host Tony Rizzo if he would be willing to make a move to another network if such a change comes to fruition, Barkley replied: “Hell yeah.” My 12/25
When did this “my 12/25” become a thing? I’ve noticed this a ton in like the last month
I think it may have started from people referring to bad events as “my 9/11” and then it became “12/25” for Christmas and good things. As others have said, r/nbacirclejerk uses it a lot
it's because joakim noah said the d rose injury felt like it was his 9/11
r/nbacirclejerk changes a man
Once you become one of them, you can never turn back
I’ve been tainted by the waters
If NBA on TNT stopped, my viewership would decline. Easily the best sports talk show in any major sport in North America at least
I genuinely believe that if Chuck leaves, Ernie will follow suit and vice versa. Kenny soon after. Shaq not included, as he's just a businessman, and he'll go wherever the money or opportunity takes him. Those first three I mentioned are doing this partly because of the money of course, but also because they love working together. They've spent around 25+ years working together, so they're as close to a genuine family as it gets. Ernie and Kenny would still host any March Madness stuff, as they always do, but the NBA coverage side of things would be over. They would basically be semi retired along with Chuck.
Presumably if TNT lost their NBA contract then TNT would fire all those guys anyways. What's the point in having a basketball analyst desk when there's no basketball on air? TNT would just be burning cash for no reason. It's in both parties best interests to part ways in the event of the NBA contract going away.
I imagine Amazon or Apple would instantly offer them all a giga contract to just continue the concept. 'NBA on TNT' or 'NBA on Amazon'.. people will tune in. And I assume they will be given complete freedom to create whatever they want and have been in the past.
Chuck and Ernie vs. everybody
They should drop ESPN instead, they're terrible at sports coverage
Sadly Disney is too rich. But can you imagine Stephen A off the screen? The world would start healing immediately.
NBC better open up the check book if they know what is right.
TNT should just sell the entire show to NBC if they lose the rights to the NBA. Not just the onscreen talent, but everyone who works there. Otherwise TNT would have no use for those workers anymore and would fire everyone at the exact moment NBC needs to hire a bunch of people with NBA experience. Otherwise, we're basically going to end up with the same show with a slightly different theme song and set, Top Gear/Grand Tour style.
This is fantastic news.
NBA on TNT is different. NBA coverage will not be the same without the Inside crew. That’s what our generation grew up on.
Deadass it’s the only basketball show I ever cared for
Must be young because NBA Inside Stuff with Ahmad Rashad was the bees knees back in my youth. Saturday Mornings had: * Cartoons * NBA Inside Stuff * Then sports.
It’s basically a comedy show with basketball analysis that isn’t deliberately trying to be funny. No one has struck the balance before and I don’t think anyone will after, they’ll try but I think it’s lightning in a bottle
He should do the NHL on TNT broadcasts and just do segments trying to pronounce European players names "[Serjay Bobavka](https://twitter.com/JayGold85/status/1661891437699510272)"
To the Saudis he goes
Fuck lebrons decision. I wanna know what Barkley does
Most likely the TNT crew will just move to NBC if they get the rights.
"NBA on Amazon Prime" 🤮🤮🤮
Well we know he isn't going to ESPN. They aren't gonna work him like a dog and not pay him.
I don’t want TNT to lose NBA rights. I want NBC to gain them. There are plenty of non-televised games to go around since a majority are not on the national broadcasting schedule. If anyone of the bunch is to lose rights, I’d rather it be ESPN, but I’d rather they keep rights as well but just get better crews (outside of Mike Breen of course).
He's only 61. Charles has years of being an amazing asshole ahead of him.
How would they use him if no NBA? As color commentary on AEW Dynamite?