This sounds like great news – at least for the moment. There’s a few details to work out, but it’s looking like our favorite sports / commentary show on TV is going to stay with us after its current incarnation.
We’re talking about TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” of course. The show with host Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and (of course) our man Shaq. It’s been an absolute bedrock staple of NBA fans for years, appearing almost every night during the NBA season. We’re sure there’s no one reading the ShaqFu Radio blog that doesn’t already know and love this show, right? (If you don’t know about it… well, we’ve got some questions…)
For months now, the big issue has been the fate of the show when the TNT network loses the rights to broadcast NBA games after the end of this season. The NBA has been in broadcast contract negotiations with other networks for months, and it appears that TNT is not going to make the final cut. Big (huge!) money has come to the table for NBA TV and streaming rights.
With the rise in the popularity of the NBA in the United States and around the world, networks that had not thought about putting hoops on their broadcast properties have changed their minds. Also, new players like Amazon – which already has a weekly NFL football game in season – is coming to the negotiating table with almost unlimited budgets. As the cliche goes, it’s a whole new world…
The BIG Podcast with SHAQ
Here’s the real news: Over this past weekend (as of this posting date), the parent company of TNT (Warner Brother / Discovery networks) made a deal with the big-daddy sports network ESPN to continue to produce and air Inside The NBA. That’s for sure wonderful news for all us Inside fans, and NBA fans everywhere who might get to see the show for the first time.
The deal is an interesting one. Warner Bros. / Discovery (through TNT Networks) will continue to produce the show, most likely through the same Atlanta studios that have been used for years. The show will be (as they say in the business world), “licensed” to ESPN. TNT will no longer be airing NBA games after this season, but Inside the NBA will go on, beginning with the 2025–26 season.
However, the announcement comes with a big potential “gotcha.” Seems Shaq’s current contract with Warner Bros. / Discovery expires on July 1, 2025. That’s before the next NBA season starts. So the question (and it’s a big one) is this: Will Shaq re-sign to stay with the rest of the Inside crew when it moves to ESPN?
Other members of the Inside The NBA team – Johnson, Barkley and Smith, have all expressed interest in keeping the show on the air into the future. Barkley and Johnson have been most vocal about their desire to find a new home for the show. O’Neal has a slightly different deal than his three castmates because they do other things for WBD, including the NCAA tournament. Shaq’s deal is strictly for the NBA and it’s up in about eight months.
Right now there’s some confusion on what’s going to happen after this season. People close to Shaq have said he wants to remain on the show, but he’s also frustrated over the fact that he does not have any kind of employment contract past when his current contract expires.
Of course Shaq being Shaq means the big man could have all kinds of options moving ahead. We’re pretty sure the new players in the NBA-broadcast world would be interested in wooing him to their coverage teams. NBC will be one of those new players next season, as will Amazon. Both would probably be willing to spend whatever it takes to get O’Neal on their team.
So… while we’re happy to say that Inside the NBA seems to have landed on its feet and has found a new home, there’s still that big question of if Shaq will be part of the OG team. Time will tell, of course. We’re hoping they manage to find a way to “keep the band together” even after this year’s season winds down.