Will rights drama affect 'Inside The NBA'?

Over the years, there have been countless pieces on TNT studio show Inside The NBA . Most of those have cited chemistry as the key reason for the show’s remarkable since-1989 run, with that particularly praised amongst the current on-air foursome of Ernie Johnson (who started as the full-time host for the 1990-91 season), Kenny Smith (who joined full-time in 1998), Charles Barkley (who entered full-time in 2000), and Shaquille O’Neal (who came in full-time in 2011).

But, ahead of what looks likely to be the final NBA season on TNT, there are more questions about that chemistry than we’ve usually seen. And they’re arising from that off-court discussion about TNT parent Warner Bros. Discovery likely losing NBA rights.

The last few months have seen a lot of talk on where the NBA’s rights will land. At the moment, that looks to be ESPN/ABC, NBC, and Amazon, barring a carve-out of a fourth package for TNT or some resolution that actually does allow them to “ match ” another offer . But nothing has been completely finalized and announced yet.

And the Inside The NBA cast has been a key part of that conversation . Discussions there have covered everything from if the whole show could land at a different broadcaster to if it might go independent and strike a deal with another broadcaster to if all the personalities involved would come. Around that, Barkley launched a PR campaign to try and preserve NBA rights for WBD (while criticizing his bosses along the way), which didn’t seem to go over well with the rest of the cast. And the show itself signed off for the year earlier this month with jokes about their uncertain future ., and Barkley previously made further on-air jokes on that .

Barkley then announced his retirement after next season. But there’s been lots of skepticism there, and even his own network’s statement on that made it seem like far from a done deal. And Smith complained about how Barkley handled that this week, saying “ He never called me ” and also questioning Barkley’s lack of public thanks for his colleagues. So that’s fed into further talk of how awkward this season might be on-air if it is indeed the last where Inside The NBA airs on TNT. And around that, it’s worth discussing how well the show may or may not work after all this.

The case for Inside The NBA being just fine

This is a show that’s long embraced feuds between its cast. The most notable has been between Barkley and O’Neal, who have gone at each other countless times on the air , and have taken that feud to outside venues as well. And there’s been interplay between both of them and Smith and Johnson as well. And Johnson has discussed how the feuds don’t indicate actual problems .

With all the coverage of Inside The NBA over the years, the chemistry has largely been a focus. That’s been explored in projects like The Inside Story , the 2021 in-house documentary on the show’s evolution, as well as in countless media pieces on the show . And that chemistry has persisted despite the on- and off-set trolling. And it may well still exist just fine despite off-court developments around the show’s future and Barkley’s own future.

It’s an unusual comparison, but there’s maybe something to consider here with what director Kristen Lappas told AA about her Full Court Press women’s college basketball docuseries earlier this year. She said “I think women’s sports is kind of painted always as female empowerment, like we’re all friends, and we’re all content, and nothing goes wrong, and there’s zero conflict. …It’s just pushing to make sure that people understand that it’s as intense. They are cursing in the locker room, their coaches are reaming them out when they do something wrong, there’s conflicting personalities, teammates are not always best friends.” And that could definitely apply to sports TV shows like Inside The NBA as well.

The discussion of chemistry with sports teams has always been interesting. There have been some championship teams where media reports have credited an extraordinarily tight-knit locker room and repeated hangouts away from the field or court as key to their success. There have also been some teams portrayed as feuding collections of superstars who managed to come together for on-field greatness. And there’s even been talk of the same thing’s addition or removal as key to chemistry, as Dan Steinberg’s brilliant 2018 historiography of NFL ping-pong table coverage illustrated.

The same is true with sports television. It’s nice to think that the personalities we see on different shows are all great friends who are hanging out off set. And sometimes they actually are . But that’s not always the case, just as it isn’t in most workplaces. And while it can certainly be beneficial for chemistry to have those kinds of off-set interactions, they’re far from a requirement for a successful show. So it’s quite conceivable that the professionals at Inside The NBA can still put on a great show even if their personal relationships and relationships with management are actually strained (and it’s not clear right now that either of those things is actually the case).

The case for concern about Inside The NBA

All of the above is true in most situations. And most shows quite definitely could be fine with on-air personalities who aren’t the best of friends and don’t hang out off-set. But Inside The NBA is a different animal, and an extremely rare one that garners almost universal praise. And the unique and unusual chemistry on display there has usually been cited as the key reason why.

It’s also worth noting that the tension with Inside The NBA this season is about something far more significant than the general Barkley-Shaq back-and-forth trolling. There are major financial implications at stake here. The cast all signed long-term extensions in 2022 , but it’s far from clear what happens there if WBD loses the NBA. It’s also far from clear what level of interest other broadcasters have in either the full Inside The NBA (either in-house or licensed from an independent company) or some of its cast members. And discussion of multimillion-dollar contracts is far more important for all of these people in the long run than the latest argument about if Barkley’s lack of rings matters or not.

With all of that, the concerns here can’t necessarily be dismissed as irrelevant. Even in the best-case scenario for WBD where they do somehow keep some NBA rights beyond 2024-25 through a fourth package or an accepted “match” offer for the second or third package, their NBA presence looks to be diminished in the new contracts compared to what it’s been. And that has implications for Inside The NBA . Even if they do retain some NBA rights, the show may air much less often. And if they don’t, the show may go elsewhere, or may go away.

At present, we know that Inside The NBA will air on TNT as usual for the 2024-25 season. But we don’t quite know what the future holds for it, or for Barkley, who himself has discussed how this could be a “ tough year .” We’ll likely get at least some clarity on both fronts before the season actually starts.

But regardless of how that resolves, it will certainly be worth keeping an eye on the last year of the show under the old contract to see if the off-court issues do produce anything affecting the on-screen product. As discussed above, there’s a solid case that they won’t. But the idea that they will can’t be written off at this point.

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