$40 Billion Debt Could Ruin Livelihoods of Employees As Shaq & Charles Barkley’s Inside the NBA Faces Shut Down

For the past couple of days, the NBA world has been waiting to receive an update on the situation of TNT. The media network, which has played host to the lovable and charismatic Inside the NBA crew for over a decade, has been in danger of losing its media rights due to significant debt. If TNT fails to retain the same, then fans would have to bid adieu to Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson Jr. A recent update, unfortunately, has all signs pointing to this dreaded situation coming true.

On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the NBA is closing in on an 11-year, $76 billion deal. The deal would grant its media rights to ESPN, Amazon, and NBC. This decision was made after TNT’s parent company, Warner Bros Discovery, reportedly suffering from $40 billion in debt, could not chip in the amount required to retain the NBA media rights. Since Disney – ESPN’s parent company – was dealing with its own issues related to falling stocks, it couldn’t pay the full amount either. However, reportedly partnering up with Amazon and NBC has ensured it gets at least a portion of the rights.

According to reports, ESPN has agreed to pay over $2.6 billion a year as part of its negotiations with the NBA. NBC will be a little behind them by spending $2.5 billion, while Amazon will hand over $1.8 billion to the league, which adds up to $76 billion over 11 years. This situation was the very thing that Charles Barkley was afraid of. During an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on May 23, the Philadelphia 76ers legend reportedly called his TNT bosses “clowns” for not fighting harder to retain their media rights.

More than the worry about losing his job, Barkley was concerned about the repercussions that hundreds of Inside the NBA employees would face in light of the bad news. “I just feel so bad for the people I work with, Dan,” said the 61-year-old. “These people have families and I just really feel bad for them right now. These people I work with, they scr*wed this thing up, clearly, and we don’t have zero idea what’s gonna happen.” This sentiment resonated with something he said in an ESPN interview in May.

With many publications saying that TNT will likely retain Ernie Johnson – because “Ernie Johnson is Turner” – it’s Shaq, Barkley, and Smith’s future that’s in question. However, the 61-year-old wasn’t as worried about the three of them as he was the other employees. He told ESPN, “All three of us are financially set. We ain’t worried about the job, to be honest with you. I feel bad for the people I work with.” While the 76ers legend may not be worried about the job, he sure isn’t happy about how things are being handled.

Considering the situation he and his co-hosts are in, where they don’t have any say in the future of Inside the NBA, Barkley said, “We’re just sitting back and waiting on these people to figure out what they’re going to do,” while also making an interesting connection. “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. We got the best studio show, and it’s so funny, we just won the [Sports Emmy for] best studio show, but these fools turned us from Inglenook and Opus into damn Boone’s Farm and Ripple. It’s crazy,” he said.

This statement went against another take Shaquille O’Neal had on the media rights situation. In a May interview with Daily Mail, Shaq said, “I don’t know [about the show’s future], but hopefully [Warner Bros. Discovery CEO] David Zaslav will take care of business. I’m sure he will. I think we’re in a great spot right now.” From the Wall Street Journal’s report, as well as Barkley’s comments on The Dan Patrick Show, it doesn’t seem like Inside the NBA is in a great spot. And neither are the 100 or so employees who work behind the scenes to help run the show.

Having been on the show since he retired from the NBA in 2000, Charles Barkley watched the children of employees he worked with grow from newborns to high schoolers and then later to college. With so many workers having devoted most of their lives to the show, the former NBA player did not feel right that such a day was lurking.

Can the battle to retain Shaquille O’Neal & Charles Barkley’s Inside the NBA go all the way to court?

Before the recent update, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had revealed that TNT losing its battle may not mean the end of Inside the NBA until the new broadcasters for NBA media are announced. According to reports, negotiations between TNT and the NBA were in play due to ‘matching rights,’ which reportedly means that a buyer can be within their rights to make “a revised offer for target’s equity when the target is faced with a competing bid.”

During an interview with EssentiallySports, Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, revealed that the ‘matching rights’ can give TNT the option to make their financial battle a legal one. “The interesting thing is that matching rights are not as powerful today as they used to be because there are so many ways to avoid them,” said Armato. “For example, the competition is between NBC and Warner Bros. Discovery. NBA has an over-the-air network, which can guarantee wider distribution. And that’s something that can be a point of differentiation. I mean, people are saying this can end up in court.”

In such a situation where TNT can end up matching NBC’s $2.5 billion, and the NBA will say that they will go with NBC because they want ‘over the air’ coverage, then the network can have a good basis for taking the issue to trial. Whether the same will occur in light of the recent developments remains to be seen.

If you want to know more about what Leonard Armato discussed, then be sure to check out this interview.