With the NBA on TNT officially a thing of the past, Charles Barkley is shedding some light on what he wants to do next.
Barkley is still under contract with TNT and will begin working with ESPN next year. After that, he has a couple good years left in him, he told the Dan Patrick Show.
"I'm gonna be a good soldier for Kenny [Smith], Ernie [Johnson], and Shaq, and the people I work with… but the best I can do is 2 years."
Charles Barkley on Inside the NBA transitioning from TNT to ESPN next season.
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“I said I’d work for two more years and that’s what I agreed to,” Barkley said. “If they start trying to work me too much between ESPN and TNT, I’m just gonna walk on home. I actually have seven years left on my contract. There’s no way I’m working seven years.”
He added that his colleagues are the reason he's staying on with both networks.
“I said I’m gonna be good soldier for Kenny [Smith], Ernie [Johnson] and Shaq, and the people I work with, because I love the people I work with, especially behind the scenes,” Barkley continued. “But I said the best I can do is two years. The other five years have no chance of happening…I did not want to leave people out in the cold. I said let me do it for a couple years, then you all can have it.”
Article Continues BelowInside the NBA will move to ESPN next season while TNT is still working on what its NBA coverage will look like without rights to the games themselves. Barkley told Patrick that the crew taped a pilot that left much to be desired.
“TNT is trying to do something stupid behind the scenes,” he said. “We taped a pilot about a month ago and it was the stupidest s**t I’ve ever seen in my life. Cause we’re not gonna be on ESPN as much as people think…we’re only probably gonna be working for ESPN like half the time.”
“They’re trying to do something stupid at TNT. Which is a stupid idea for a couple reasons,” Barkley continued. “Number one, we won’t have basketball highlights. But also, we’re probably gonna be going up against a NBA game. And anybody who likes basketball, they’re not gonna say, ‘Hey, you know what? Let me turn off a NBA game on Amazon, ESPN, or NBC to go watch these four dudes sit around and talk about nothing.'”
All that's to say that while his NBA coverage may look different next year, there's still a couple good seasons of Charles Barkley left.