Charles Barkley – Source: Mitchell Layton / Getty
In the middle of a turbulent time of NBA rights leaving TNT Charles Barkley reveals he left $100M on the table to return to Turner Sports.
For over 25 years Charles Barkley has been one of the voices of TNT Sports. Inside The NBA has become the premier NBA show thanks to the chemistry between Charles, Shaq, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson. However, despite their chemistry and ratings the NBA is thinking ahead with their latest TV deal.
The NBA’s Board of Governors voted on a new future and will be taking their rights to Disney, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video. When the deal is finalized it will likely be for over a decade and accumulate over $75 Billion for the league.
During a recent interview on The Dan LeBatard Show, Barkley explained deals came to his desk from every direction amid the news TNT would lose the NBA.
“The No. 1 thing for me is my people from Turner get to keep their jobs for at least another year,” Barkley, told Le Batard. “That’s all I was concerned with.”
Barkley admitted it did stroke his ego to receive so many offers calling it “a great feeling”. However, in the end, his loyalty to the people who made Inside The NBA happen prevailed.
“I want to thank all of those networks for reaching out to me,” the NBA Hall of Famer said. “It was really humbling and cool, to be honest with you. Even though they were throwing crazy numbers, like damn, but as long as I got my people safe at TNT man, I feel really good.” Barkley said praising his team. “Like I say, they’re going to pay me to go and talk about nothing,” Barkley said, adding a quip, “I probably would’ve had to do an honest day’s work if I went to one of those other networks.”
At the moment we unfortunately have zero clue of how sports will be handled in the future at TNT. However, between Shaq and Charles whatever they plan next we will all watch in laughter as they are a dynamic duo. Initially, Barkley threw out retirement but in the end, he’d miss us just like we’d miss him.
You can watch Charles’s full interview on The Dan LeBaard Show below.
