Charles Barkley Will Listen To Offers As A Free Agent If TNT Doesn’t ‘Guarantee My Whole’ Contract

Charles Barkley might end up going back on his plan to retire at the end of the 2024-25 NBA season after all. Barkley, the longtime TNT commentator who expressed during the NBA Finals that he only had one more season in him regardless of how things went in the league’s media rights negotiations, spoke to The Athletic about what the future might hold.

While Barkley has previously mentioned that his contract made sure to get an out clause in the event that Turner lost NBA television rights — which, as it was announced earlier this week, ended up happening — his interview with Andrew Marchand was the first time he expressed that he could remain in basketball media. The condition: Turner has to pay him the remainder of his deal.

“My deal is 10 years, $210 million,” Barkley said in a phone interview. “Turner has to come to me ASAP and they have to guarantee my whole thing or they can offer me a pay cut, which there is no chance of that happening and I’ll be (a) free agent.

“My thing was, ‘Wait, y’all f— up, I didn’t f— up, why do I have to take a pay cut?”

Earlier this week , the NBA announced that it struck deals with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon to broadcast games for the next 11 years. This was despite the fact that Turner previously announced its intention to match Amazon’s deal, as was its contractual right. However, the NBA argued that it was not capable of doing this, and as a result, it would move forward with Amazon as a broadcast partner.

After previously expressing that it would consider all options, on Friday afternoon, Turner announced that it would seek legal action against the league. In his interview with Marchand, Barkley said that he would prefer they do not go down that road, saying that “If you have to sue somebody to stay in a relationship, do you think that is a healthy relationship?” He also expressed in a statement on Friday that he never believed the NBA was interested in working out a deal with Turner.