The NBA is officially set to cut ties with Warner Bros Discovery. After a Wall Street Journal report indicated the same back in early June, the league has now officially announced its plans to hand their television rights to Amazon, NBC, ESPN, and ABC. This would effectively bring TNT’s iconic ‘Inside the NBA’ show to an end. Per the Athletic, Turner Sports and Warner Bros. matched their proposals to retain NBA media rights. However, the NBA decided to move astray and choose Amazon instead. This can open up room for possible legal disputes.

While taking the battle to the courts may be the only viable option left, it is one that not everyone may be on board with.

Amongst them are Rob Parker and Aaron Torres, longtime radio contributors and hosts of ‘The Odd Couple’ podcast. Parker did not choose to mince words during a recent segment, claiming “TNT played a dangerous game of chicken with the NBA. If you have something that you really want, you don’t play around. When negotiations open, how much its going to cost, let’s get this thing done.”

The host’s remarks stew from the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO, David Zaslav, had earlier gone on the record to state, “We don’t have to have the NBA.” After all, having a parent company worth $20.95 billion could grant them a bargaining ground.

However, TNT went into the negotiations at a more disadvantageous position, since they are reportedly over $40 billion in debt, their stock price had gone down 31.72% within a year, and some networks were willing to provide them with a better offer. Furthermore, it should be noted that the NBA rights reportedly helped TNT generate over $600 million in profits annually. The NBA held the higher ground, and staying there will now drastically affect TNT. With their existing condition, a legal fight would only add on to the troubles.

“I gotta tell you right here right now, if you’re an NBA fan…….. and TNT is going to sue, I don’t know why they’re going to waste their money,” Parker added. “You can’t force somebody to be a partner. Like, seriously, it’s just going to be a waste of money, I have no idea why they would do that.”

TNT feels the NBA has grossly misinterpreted contractual rights

Losing the NBA rights would bring about the end of the iconic ‘Inside the NBA’ show. Despite the pleading from its host Charles Barkley for the top brass to act swiftly and not put hundreds of jobs at risk, TNT reportedly waited until the last minute to match the offer that was made by Amazon and other services.

According to the Athletic, Adam Silver and the NBA are prepared to favor Amazon for three main reasons.

1. First, TNT’s future plan to put all of the games on its cable network and its streaming service Max would not be favored, since Amazon is already a good-enough streaming service at its disposal.
2. Second, Amazon’s reach being greater worldwide would provide increased viewership.
3. And lastly, the fact that Amazon offered to pay the full amount for the first three years of its eleven-year deal trumped Warner Bros. three-year line of credit offer.

Despite losing the so-called “Game of Chicken”, Turner Sports and Warner Bros are not willing to back down. In a statement, TNT Sports proceeded to state “We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do, and do not believe the NBA can reject it. In doing so, they are rejecting the many fans who continue to show their unwavering support for our best-in-class coverage, delivered through the full combined reach of WBD’s video-first distribution platforms — including TNT, home to our four-decade partnership with the league, and Max, our leading streaming service.”

A future legal dispute has been in discussion for quite some time now. In an interview with EssentiallySports back in early June, Shaquille O’Neal’s former agent Leonard Armato stated that the ‘matching rights’ clause could certainly give TNT an option to current their previous negotiating mistakes.

Lo and behold, that is exactly what is happening. However, Armato also stated that “matching rights are not as powerful today as they used to be because there are so many ways to avoid them.” Using NBC and Warner Bros. Discovery as examples, he pointed out that the NBA will look to prioritize a network that can guarantee wider distribution. Amazon is certainly that network.