Charles Barkley Changes Tune on Working With ESPN on 'Inside the NBA'

Chuck hasn't always been so magnanimous about the move.

NBA TV analyst Charles Barkley talks on set before game three of the 2024 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Charles Barkley has not been particularly excited about Inside the NBA's future on ESPN.

While Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal are set to remain TNT Sports employees, with the network losing its NBA rights after the 2024–25 season, the show will be licensed out to ESPN, which maintains its partnership with the league. NBC and Prime Video will also broadcast NBA games.

Barkley has bounced between joking about his future on ESPN's airwaves and floating the idea that he won't make the move. He also has a long history of saying he'll retire from broadcasting, as documented by Sports Media Watch last year.

His tune changed a bit when he was stopped for a street interview with New York-based comedian and journalist Adam Glyn amid the New York Knicks' Eastern Conference finals series vs. the Indiana Pacers. Barkley went so far as to say the venture with ESPN will be an "honor and a privilege."

“Just trying to figure out how we’re going to work on ESPN going forward,” Barkley told Glyn when asked about the future, before confirming that he is "excited" about the move.

“I am. It’s a great opportunity, we just got to figure out the dynamics,” he said. “But it’s going to be an honor and a privilege to work with ESPN.”

Time will tell how long that relationship lasts, and just how involved Barkley will be at ESPN beyond Inside the NBA, but it certainly appears that network president Jimmy Pitaro was correct this week when he said that the show will be "keeping the band together" for the channel swap.

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