After 35 long years as one of the its broadcast partners, TNT network has lost the media rights to the NBA. They were unable to match the offer presented by Amazon, according to the league itself, and as a result, the NBA will be leaving TNT after their contract expires at the conclusion of the 2025-26 season. Charles Barkley, one of the hosts of the award-winning Inside The NBA, has made his displeasure over the entire ordeal known.
Barkley has already expressed his frustrations over how the negotiations between the two long-time partners broke down. And despite the last-ditch attempt from TNT to rescue its partnership with the NBA, Barkley knew that it was inevitable for his home network to lose the rights to cover the association.
“It's been really depressing for me because we kinda knew we were gonna lose the thing. It was one of the worst-kept secrets in the history of civilization,” Barkley shared in an appearance on Podcast P with Paul George presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment.
For Charles Barkley, the most gut-wrenching part of this whole thing was witnessing his colleagues behind the scenes face the uncertainty of losing their job now that the NBA is leaving TNT.
“These people become part of your family. For 24 years, you know them, you know their kids, you know their husbands, you know their wives. That's what I feel really s****y about. … They were like, ‘I got a wife. I got kids. I got a mortgage. And I ain't got no f***ing job. It really hurt me that my friends were talking like that. It was really heartbreaking. It just really sucks, man. I can't believe we screwed it up. Next year is gonna be a bittersweet year,” Barkley added.
Charles Barkley and the Inside crew say goodbye to NBA on TNT
TNT dragged along in its negotiations with the NBA, and in the end, they wanted to utilize the clause in their contract with the league that specified that they could match competing offers. However, Charles Barkley revealed that for TNT to extend its partnership with the NBA, they had to match the much-expensive offer package from ESPN and NBC instead of the least expensive one from Amazon.
All good things come to an end, but it certainly is disappointing for Barkley and the rest of the hard-workers over at TNT to lose their jobs over something that they did not have any control over.
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