Is this the ultimate leverage play, or is Charles Barkley actually serious that he's no longer going to do TV? It makes sense that all the uncertainty about the future of
Inside the NBA might've burned him out a little bit, but to walk away after next season regardless!? CHUCK! NOOOOOOOOO. Following the
Dallas Mavericks' 122-84 annihilation of the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, as Friday moved into Saturday, Barkley announced he's stepping down from analyzing the NBA and will retire at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season. https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1801832214063419473 This is some of the saddest sports-related news involving a still-alive person I've seen in a while. Nobody keeps it more real than Sir Charles. He's a singular force of nature as a personality, with a Hall of Fame playing resume to back up any flaming-hot take he throws out there. You can't not love the man. He's only 61. That's plenty of time to still enjoy retirement at least a handful of years down the line and make a hell of a lot more money. I wrote the lede the way I did for a reason.
Inside the NBA is on track to leave its home at TNT/Turner Sports after next season. Barkley could either not want to deal with the headache of transitioning a new network, or he could opt to become a free agent. Every single major media company would throw countless millions at him. Even if he does "retire", maybe a year away would only further drive Chuck's price tag up. It's easy to envision him crossing over into the podcast world, too. He'd have one of the biggest sports-related pods on the planet almost immediately were he to go that route. In any event, this flat-out sucks. Of course the day was always going to come where Chuck would no longer grace our screens with his one-of-one presence. Just didn't think it'd be this imminent. Look at how effortlessly Chuck calls out the Celtics for their pathetic Game 4 effort, and how unafraid he is of hyping up a "Mavs in 7" narrative despite the fact that no team has ever rallied from a 3-0 Finals deficit. https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1801815008831037917 https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1801823574279307579 Barkley isn't afraid to get caught up in the moment, take accountability when he's way wrong on a prediction, or blend his basketball expertise with the opinion-driven passion of a common fan. He could even be hilarious when
talking about non-basketball-related matters such as the solar eclipse . We're all gonna miss you, Chuck. Thank you for everything in advance. But for everyone's sake, go along with this "retirement" narrative, use it to drive your price up to the moon, and
then retire in, say, a few more years. Unfortunately, it sounds like Chuck's decision is final. Let's hope he changes his mind.
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