The future of Inside the NBA—the popular TNT studio show featuring the quartet of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal—appears to be in jeopardy as the league comes close to finalizing its broadcasting rights deals.
These deals kick in for the 2025-26 season.
According to Forbes, Disney will pay between $2.6 billion and $2.8 billion per year to keep covering NBA games on ESPN. Amazon has acquired the rights to the NBA’s play-in tournament and a few first-round games.
Warner Bros. Discovery's TNT and NBC are now competing for the remaining “B” package, as reported by Sports Business Journal.
NBC is reportedly in position to acquire the rights with a bid between $2.5 billion and $2.6 billion annually. The NBA will likely take the contract to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to gauge his interest in matching the offer, but sources tell Sports Business Journal that Zaslav did not want to double its previous TV rights agreement of $1.2 billion.
If Zaslav is still unwilling to budge, then the NBA will move forward with finalizing its deal with NBC, as well as ESPN and Amazon, this week.
There may still be one more season before the lights dim on Inside the NBA, but people are already looking back at some of the most memorable moments that made the show unlike any other.
See some of the best tweets celebrating the show below.
