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Bill Simmons Thinks ESPN Will Ruin 'Inside the NBA'

Ryan Phillips

Bill Simmons on his podcast.
Bill Simmons on his podcast. / Via The Ringe

Bill Simmons is worried about how his former employer will handle Inside the NBA.

The legendary show had its final episode on TNT over the weekend and is moving to ESPN next season. Simmons is convinced the four-letter will ruin the show.

"I think ESPN is gonna f--- the show up. I think they're gonna f--- the show up," Simmons said during the latest episode of his podcast. "Unless they completely change how they do commercials, the show is gonna to be different and people are going to be pissed. And Barkley and those guys are going to be pissed, and I think it's gonna go badly."

He added that for the partnership to work, ESPN needed to change its commercial structure to allow the longer segments that give the show's stars room to discuss things. The short segments the network's other shows use will be a bad fit for Inside the NBA.

While growing pains are to be expected as Inside the NBA shifts from TNT to ESPN, it's hard to foresee exactly what the issues will be. There's a chance Simmons could be right and that the network just needs to get out of the way and let the show breathe.

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Ryan Phillips
RYAN PHILLIPS

Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.

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