For over 4 seasons now, the ‘My Next Guest Needs No Introduction’ show allowed longtime television host David Letterman to connect with some of the biggest names dominating the current world landscape. From ex-POTUS Barack Obama, Malala Yousafzai, and Lewis Hamilton, to Miley Cyrus and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the 77-year-old touched base on several spectrums and industries. Joining him this season is the Philadelphia 76ers legend Charles Barkley. Thanks to this interview, Letterman and the audience will get to know many intricate secrets about the show that the former player has called his place of work for more than two decades.

As we’re aware, ever since Barkley retired, he’s been a major part of “Inside the NBA” show on TNT, along with Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson Jr. Together, they cover pre-game and post-game segments while keeping the audience entertained through the various jokes, antics and pranks the crew kept playing on each other. But there’s one major secret that is bound to shock everyone who loves basketball.

Well, as it turns out,  David Letterman got a look at the backrooms of the main studios, where the crew hung out, and he learned that the crew doesn’t always watch all the basketball games.

Yes! Letterman looked at all these screens present in the back of the studio. He immediately questions Barkley if he watches the games. The latter responded, “Yes, yes, hard yes”. But Kenny Smith revealed the actual answer. He said, “Well, he (Barkley) doesn’t watch the games”. In turn, Barkley further revealed, “We definitely doze off”. For the 76ers legend, his choice of entertainment viewing seems to have now shifted to ‘Law & Order’ instead of NBA games. Given that he has done the job of an analyst for over 24 years, the 11x NBA All-Star has realized what is more important and what is not.

“When you’re doing a show, you gotta learn a lot of sh*t about other people,” said Barkley. “Like, it’s just basketball”. The same was confirmed by Kenny Smith, who stated that they are not gonna see anything new that the duo, and Shaq, did not see, do, or hear during their time.

All four members of the ‘Inside the NBA’ cast dozing off behind the scenes is certainly something that would make a lot of NBA fans concerned. At the same time, however, having been doing this job for so long, they know better than anyone on how to go about things. While the crew had their fun, “dozing off” behind the scenes, the news of ‘Inside the NBA’ shutting down will certainly put a stop to that.

Amidst rumors of ‘Inside the NBA’ shutting down, Charles Barkley wants TNT to do the “right thing”

Since the past couple of weeks ago, rumors had been swirling that TNT and its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery, were on the verge of losing their NBA rights. The same was confirmed after a report by the Wall Street Journal that the league is settling on an 11-year, $76 billion deal that would allow ESPN, Amazon, and NBC to have control over the rights. While efforts are being made to somehow prevent ‘Inside the NBA’ from coming to an end, the situation seems bleak.

Charles Barkley touched base on the ongoing situation during an interview with Outkick. He stated while he and the rest of his co-hosts just come up on the show and ‘spew’, the people behind-the-scenes are the ones who do the real work. Therefore, for their sake, the show must go on. If the same is not meant to be, then the least that could be done is for them to get some honesty out of the network.

“I hope it works out for those guys, but hey, like I say, man, I don’t know anything. I wish I did,” Barkley continued. “I told them, ‘Just let us know one way or the other. That’d be the right thing to do’”.

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.