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With the NBA signing a new rights deal with ESPN, Amazon Prime, and NBC, Charles Barkley could have left TNT for either one of those networks, but he stayed loyal. Carmelo Anthony was one of the people who saw Barkley's loyalty, and he wanted to show his respect to the TNT analyst for what he did.
Anthony shared his high praises for Barkley on 7 PM in Brooklyn, a Wave Sports + Entertainment Original.
“With Barkley it comes down to ‘This is home, I don’t want to leave this. We done built this. I built my whole life off this s–t.' The money is enticing because they gotta throw the money out there and rightfully so, he deserves the numbers that’s out there but you can’t leave,” Anthony said. “That’s me speaking from a loyalty situation. That’s real shit what he did because I know the numbers that are being thrown at Barkley. I know the conversation that’s being had about Barkley. Those Stephen A. numbers are official. All those numbers are real…It’s loyalty.”
During the summer there were talks that TNT would possibly not be covering any NBA games in the future since a deal wasn't made with the league, which made many fans of the show upset. Barkley even went on to say during the playoffs that the upcoming season would be his last one in broadcast, but he retracted his statements.
Charles Barkley turned down $100 million deals to stay with TNT
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Charles Barkley announced on The Dan LeBatard Show that he turned down a minimum of $100 million to stay with the TNT network.
“It was a great feeling, and I wanna thank all those networks for reaching out to me…” Barkley said. “But even though they were throwing crazy numbers — I was like, ‘D–n' — but as long as I got my people safe at TNT, I feel really good.”
The NBA rejected to sign a new extension with TNT Sports and instead decided to partner with Amazon and NBC in the future. That means that the end of NBA on TNT is on the horizon, as fans won't see Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith on their television screens after 2025.
Weeks after the news, Warner Bros. Discovery filed a lawsuit against the NBA for not accepting the offer that they offered.
“Given the NBA’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third–party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights,” TNT Sports said in a statement. “We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans who want to keep watching our industry–leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed WBD video–first distribution platforms – including TNT and Max.”
