It's no secret that NBA TV ratings are straggling a bit in recent years. Parity should be a good thing for professional basketball in theory, yet in the midst of six different champions in as many seasons, there's been a steady decline at least when it comes to NBA Finals viewership. Without a Golden State Warriors dynasty or LeBron James dominating the East in Cleveland, we've gone from an average of over 20 million viewers in the 2016 and 2017 Finals to about 11.3 million for the latest Boston Celtics-Dallas Mavericks matchup. Yeesh. But the NBA Finals have nothing to do with TNT. That coverage is reserved exclusively for ESPN and ABC. The institution that almost single-handedly sustains fan interest in the lengthy 82-game regular season and throughout the rest of the playoffs is
Inside the NBA on TNT. I don't think that's a hot take. It's the best in-studio basketball show — possibly the best sports show, period — in major North American sports. The chemistry between Charles Barkley, Shaq, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith is uncanny. So you'd think the NBA, commissioner Adam Silver, and the league office would have the wherewithal to, you know, not break up one thing that is undeniably working when it comes to TV. However, we've known for a while now that TNT's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery might lose NBA media rights. Welp. It's come to pass. In the wake of the NBA choosing to proceed with Amazon despite WBD matching the $1.8 billion deal, Barkley is not happy at all. https://twitter.com/Rachel__Nichols/status/1816855875790995704 We still have another full season of
Inside the NBA , but Chuck has said he won't work for another network outside of TNT and
is effectively retiring after the 2024-25 season. Those fans Barkley refers to, whose interests were put aside in favor of money and mostly out-of-touch owners? They're proof that the magic of
Inside the NBA shouldn't be taken for granted. https://twitter.com/ProtoRoshi/status/1816281036806054115 https://twitter.com/JAnderson1107/status/1816568871072993551 https://twitter.com/gifdsports/status/1801742535963840664 https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1799208469163134991 Yeah, no wonder the new
and incumbent NBA media rights carriers alike are trying to chase down TNT's venerated quartet. Doesn't mean it's right, but I get why the NBA is partnering with Amazon,
along with returning to NBC and maintaining their NBA Finals partnership with Disney. Since David Zaslav took over as CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, they've been making a ton of cuts across all content mediums. They even
shelved the Batgirl movie they'd spent $90 million on for a tax write-off. I'm kind of pleasantly surprised Zaslav was willing to match Amazon's NBA offer, considering he said back in 2022 that his company
doesn't really need the NBA . Chuck took issue with that and publicly aired his grievances about Zaslav's infamous stance in an interview with Dan Patrick a while back. https://twitter.com/dpshow/status/1793662220397658124
"The first thing is they came out and said, ‘We didn’t need the NBA.’ So, I think that probably pissed Adam [Silver] off,” Barkley admitted. “I don’t know that. But when we merged, that’s the first thing our boss said, ‘We don’t need the NBA.’ Well, he don’t need it. But me, Kenny, Shaq, Ernie and the rest of the people who work there, we need it. It just sucks." Flash forward to the Amazon offer, along with
the $2.5 billion NBC presented , and here we are. TNT and the NBA done after a 40-year partnership. And Charles Barkley retiring with plenty of tread left on his tires. Could Amazon or NBC back up the Brinks truck for Barkley and the
Inside the NBA crew? I'd hope it's at least a conversation, but it sounds like Sir Charles really means it when he says he won't work for any other network going forward. Ugh. Take it away, Adam Driver... https://youtu.be/6aEJdkDAS_w?si=mS6NOMt2pyDQ7Ksp&t=53
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