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This NBA Finals Represents a Massive First for ‘Inside the NBA’

After 15 years together, Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal will finally work the sport’s biggest event.
Jimmy Traina|
Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley have been together since 2011.
Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley have been together since 2011. | ESPN

1. The NBA Finals, featuring the Spurs and Knicks, begin tonight on ABC, where it has aired since 2003.

There will be one important and significant change to ABC’s Finals coverage this season. For the first time ever, the iconic Inside the NBA and its cast—Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal—will handle pregame, halftime and postgame duties for the championship series.

For Inside the NBA to be around as long as it has and to become as popular and important as it has without ever being part of a Finals is almost hard to believe.

But after Warner Brothers Discovery lost the rights to NBA games in 2024, ESPN made a deal with WBD to license Inside the NBA. WBD still produces the show, but it airs on ESPN.

The unusual arrangement turned out to be a huge win for basketball fans because the iconic show will finally be showcased during the the NBA’s biggest series.

“I am so excited about that,” Barkley recently said about working the Finals on an episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina. “We were actually talking about it last week. It’s going to be awesome. The first time we’ve ever done the Finals. It’s gonna be exciting. I’m really looking forward to it. I’m not gonna lie. I’m excited for it. It’s gonna be awesome.  We’re really excited about that. I can’t wait. I’m excited.”

Inside the NBA got off to a bumpy start on ESPN strictly based on scheduling. The content of the show has remained the same, but episodes were too infrequent in the early part of the season.

ESPN president Burke Magnus acknowledged that this week in an interview with Puck’s John Ourand.

“It has worked wonderfully,” Magnus told Ourand about the new arrangement. “The production crew at Turner and the talent have all been fantastic to work with. All we did was put the ESPN logo on the desk and let those guys do their thing. If I could change something, it’s really unrelated to how the show appears on-screen. I would like to spread the shows over more of the regular season. It’s quite back-loaded at this point—we didn’t really get going until Christmas Day. It’s been incredible in the postseason because they’re on basically every single night.”

The NBA has enjoyed solid ratings increases throughout the postseason and viewership is expected to be very strong for the Finals thanks to the New York market and Victor Wembanyama. Don’t discount the presence of Inside the NBA working the NBA Finals for the first time as a factor when big viewership numbers come in for the series.

2. Speaking of ratings, the NBA and NBC got great news regarding Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. The Spurs-Thunder game on Saturday drew 15.9 million viewers. Viewership for the game peaked at 22.2 million.

3. Just a pathetic and disgraceful job by the Indiana Fever revoking the credentials of beat writer Scott Agness. The Fever claimed they took away Agness’s credential, thus preventing him from doing his job properly, because of his reporting surrounding an injury to Caitlin Clark.

The only way a reporter should get a credential revoked is if they intentionally and deliberately lied. Agness did not do that here, as he explained in great detail.

4. This was a great and accurate line by veteran Guardians broadcaster Tom Hamilton on Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. appearing on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.

5. Here’s an amusing Myles Garrett song, set to Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” from a Browns fan.

6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina is a mailbag episode.

The show starts with Sal Licata from SNY TV and The Sal Licata Show discussing the Knicks’ playoff run, the NBA Finals and the Finals betting odds. Next up is a conversation about Netflix’s new Martin Short documentary and the passing of Rob Base.

After that is a lengthy mailbag segment where I answer questions from listeners. Among the topics people asked about: Can the NYPD handle the MSG crowd if the Knicks win the NBA title; Which broadcast booth would we like to hear call one more game; What question do people want the media to ask Mike Vrabel; best and worst streaming services; Danhausen; book and television show recommendations; movies that get multiple viewings; encores at concerts and much more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Here’s how the opening to the NBA Finals looked in 1999 when the Spurs faced the Knicks.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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