Adam Silver has offered a ray of hope to basketball fans, saying the fate of TNT’s hit show “Inside the NBA” is still up in the air.
The league commissioner was asked about fan concerns about losing the on-air team of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal with the home of the NBA’s broadcast rights yet to be formally determined after next season.
Sports Business Journal reported earlier this week that NBC was on the verge of acquiring the NBA’s “B” package for the 2025-26 season for $2.6 million in separate deals with Disney/ESPN and Amazon.
Warner Bros. Discovery, the current rights holder for the “B” package, has the rights to match the “total value” of the opponent’s over.
Silver, He was approached by TMZ. Asked on his way to a state dinner at the White House on Thursday about fan concerns about players like Smith and Barkley not making it in the NBA, he suggested negotiations are still ongoing.
“Nobody knows,” Silver said. “Everybody’s still talking about it. Nobody knows what’s going to happen.”
Silver also doesn’t think the end of TNT’s “Inside the NBA” will mean fans will lose insight into players like Smith and Barkley.
“We’re not going to lose Charles and Kenny,” Silver said. “They’re going to always be covering the NBA. … They’re going to be the guys that we’re going to lose. [on ‘Inside the NBA’] Although they will no longer be performing or announcing together, we all love them.”
Silver, According to PUCK’s Matthew Belloni:The company was upset after Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the company “doesn’t need to have” the NBA, and may be looking to offer a service similar to Amazon’s “C” package, which it is seeking to acquire for just under $2 billion.
The meaning of “total value” could spark legal battles. According to SBJThat’s because the NBA plans to argue to Warner Bros. Discovery that advertising revenue and broadcast slots mean “the games aren’t worth a dollar.”
Berkeley, 61, spoke gloomily about the fate of the show at TNT during an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” on Thursday, criticizing the network’s higher-ups for “messing this up.”
“Morale is terrible, plain and simple. Dan, I feel so bad for the people I work with. They have families. I feel so bad right now. The people I work with obviously screwed this up and I have no idea what’s going to happen,” Barkley said.
The Hall of Famer added that he is in contract talks with NBA teams, excluding Johnson, who will reportedly remain under contract with Turner, through his production company, Fine Line Productions.
The show could then be licensed to networks and streaming services.
“Like I said, we’re just sitting back and waiting to figure out what these guys are going to do,” Barkley said.
Silver’s comments mean the matter is far from over, at least not yet.
