The popular ‘Inside the NBA’ crew of Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson Jr have been making headlines over the uncertainty of their future. TNT is struggling to retain its media rights, which the NBA reportedly plans to grant to Disney/ESPN, Amazon, and NBC. If the network loses the rights to feature basketball games, then this will be the end of ‘Inside the NBA’ and a partnership that has been entertaining fans for over 13 years. The crew realizes that the end is imminent, and some are not looking to mince words about the truth.

A few hours ago, the ‘Inside the NBA’ crew, along with Golden State Warriors star and guest host Draymond Green, devoted a segment to discussing the recent Game 2 Conference Finals matchup between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Dallas Mavericks. During the same, they highlighted how far they have fallen in their coverage of the ‘Gone Fishing’ segments. When discussing why this was the case, as everyone in the crew had adorned at least one fishing gear and were preparing to kick off that part of the show, Charles Barkley replied, “We’ve been busy… Filling out job applications.” This remark brought out a bit of laughter from certain co-hosts.

‘Gone Fishing’ is a hilarious and popular segment of the show, in which all of the players who had recently been eliminated from the NBA tournament are put into a fishing ‘scenario’. Some might be found on a boat, while others would be found on a shore with the aquatic vertebrate animal in their hands. The segment allows the hosts to bid farewell to the roster of an eliminated team in a humorous manner by implying that it is vacation time for the players now. When the Warriors failed to make the playoffs, Charles Barkley and co. photoshopped Draymond Green on a boat named the ‘Choke Job’, while the player himself was choking a fish. This was a reference to an incident in November when Green reportedly put Minnesota Timberwolves player Rody Gobert in a headlock during a heated moment of the game.

The last ‘Gone Fishing’ segment that the crew did was almost a week ago when the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated. This time, they focused on the Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks & Oklahoma City Thunder. Given that Barkley, O’Neal, Smith, and Johnson may not be together for much longer, they might be making the best use of their time.

Charles Barkley criticizes TNT management and highlights “low morale” amongst the ‘Inside the NBA’ staff

The question of whether Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of TNT, will hold on to its partnership with the NBA continues to hang in the balance. Only three days ago, Sports Business Journal reported that Disney, Amazon, and NBC are on the verge of “formalizing” the acquisition of the media rights. With so much uncertainty going around, Charles Barkley didn’t choose to stay silent on the issue.

A few hours ago, the 61-year-old Philadelphia 76ers legend sat down for an interview on ‘The Dan Patrick Show’. During the same, he used a wine analogy to criticize his TNT bosses by stating, “My two favorite wines are Inglenook and Opus. These clowns I work for, they’ve turned us into Ripple and Boone’s Farm and Thunderbird.” While speaking out about his plight, he also highlighted the other people associated with ‘Inside the NBA’.

“Morale sucks, plain and simple,” said Barkley. “I just feel so bad for the people I work with, Dan. These people have families and I just really feel bad for them right now”. He took a shot at the people he worked with for screwing things up and making the situation so unpredictable. He was especially upset when TNT reportedly decided to acquire College Football.

“I was like, well, damn, they could have used that money to buy the NBA.” Barkley continued.

As a possible last resort, the former NBA player has offered that his own production company can acquire ‘Inside the NBA’ and keep the dynamic crew alive. However, the final decision will be taken once TNT finalizes what route it will take.