ESPN Veteran Tries to Poach Charles Barkley on Live TV as TNT Future Hangs By a Thread

Well, well, well. Look how the tables have turned! After retiring from the NBA in 2000, Philadelphia 76ers legend Charles Barkley followed the same path as some of his co-workers and tried his hand at broadcast media. However, instead of ESPN, he established a career on Warner Bros Discovery’s TNT Network. In fact, during his 24-year run as co-host of ‘Inside the NBA’, the former player was quite adamant about his decision to never even consider ESPN as a place where he would work. Unfortunately, with TNT currently going through a precarious situation, Barkley may end up considering a recent offer that he can’t refuse!

During the course of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oiler, Charles Barkley joined the off-court coverage of ‘NHL ESPN’. Joining him as co-host were ESPN personality Steve Levy and former NHL star players Mark Messier and P. K. Subban. As Levy introduced the surrounding people, he jokingly referred to Barkley as “the newest member of ESPN’s NBA Coverage”. If this was some sort of a hint or a job offer, the basketball star didn’t entertain it for long, as he later went to share an amusing story about how Messier owes him $5000.

Over the past couple of weeks, rumors had started popping up that TNT was having trouble retaining its media rights from the NBA, due to the network’s reported $40 billion debt. The same was confirmed last week, as it was revealed that the basketball league is closing in on an 11-year, $76 billion deal that would grant its media rights to ESPN, NBC, and Amazon, but not TNT. This would mean that after being on the air for decades, Charles Barkley’s beloved ‘Inside the NBA’ show will no longer exist. While efforts are being made to at least retain the highly popular show, the situation seems bleak.

Due to this, it would make sense for Charles Barkley to go job-hunting. Unfortunately, the last place that he would probably ever consider is ESPN.

Charles Barkley’s disdain for ESPN is quite known

Over the course of his TNT career, Charles Barkley has seldom shied away from making his critique of ESPN known.

Back in 2016, during a post-game coverage of a matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma City Thunder, he attacked the network’s low pay and long hours by stating “(They’re) Not gonna work me like a dog and not pay me”. As his co-hosts, which also included Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal, couldn’t control their laughter, Barkley continued, “They’ll have me on ESPN One, Two, Three, ESPN News, ESPNU, ESPN Radio! They’re gonna have me on ESPN Deportes, saying ‘Muy bien, gracias!’”

While his co-hosts have often had a good laugh at his expense, this was one of those occasions when they just couldn’t control themselves over his joke.

Barkley’s disdain made a return in recent days as well. For quite some time now, the Los Angeles Lakers have been on the search for a new head coach. While UConn coach Dan Hurley was being considered as a top prospect, he recently rejected the offer to not take his time away from his college team. The former NBA player’s criticism lay in the fact that ESPN was devoting too much time to covering the Lakers HC search and less to the ongoing NBA Finals.

“I was so mad at ESPN yesterday,” said Barkley. “I love Danny Hurley. This has nothing to do with Danny Hurley and good luck with him if he goes to the Lakers. But I was so pi**ed, with Game 1 of the Finals and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals coming on, for them to spend the first hour talking about ‘What if Danny Hurley goes to the Lakers?’”

Charles Barkley has a strong position. However, the changing times can often compel people to entertain a scenario that they wouldn’t do earlier. Therefore, anything can happen.

Before leaving, be sure to check out some insights that Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, shared about WNBA star rookies Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.