With the excitement of the Summer League, offseason trades, and the 2024 Paris Olympics, a rather sad aspect around the NBA seems to have taken a backseat. Or perhaps, the NBA fans worldwide let it happen on purpose because they just don’t want to face the reality. The reality of the media rights deal. Let’s cut it a little closer to home – the end of the beloved Inside the NBA era. Because come on, let’s face it. We have all been sweating and wringing our hands in painful anticipation of the dreaded news – the breakup of the foursome of Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson.

It really wouldn’t be a surprise if some of you developed nosebleeds of late, thanks to all the stress and anguish! But Front Office Sports has come forward with a rather surprising development in the media rights deal. And it might just spark some of that hope we have all been losing. The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned TNT has confirmed that “it has officially received contracts spelling out dueling third-party offers for the NBA’s media rights starting with the 2025–26 season,” and is “reviewing them and preparing a response.”

Moreover, the sources further report that “the network behind Charles Barkley’s Emmy Award-winning Inside the NBA is also holding out hope for a less-expensive fourth rights package that would keep it in the live NBA game business.” Amazon has offered $1.8 billion per year while NBC came forward with a $2.5 billion/year bid, leaving TNT to match either of them by next Monday. The Comcast-owned corporation received the contracts on Wednesday.

Disney’s ABC/ESPN seems poised to receive the “A” package, which includes the NBA Finals for a staggering $2.8 billion annually. Considering the other two players in the field have offered a lesser bid, Disney might just congratulate itself on a sealed deal. FOS also reported that if WBD matched the offers, it would likely be that of Prime Video’s $1.8 billion.

Of course, we are yet to see if any such movement could happen as they are still reviewing them.

Can TNT bring back a withering Inside crew to life?

The aspect that TNT wasn’t exactly in a position to challenge these global media and tech giants financially was what got them in hot water in the first place.  Deadline recently published an exclusive on how Warner Bros. Discovery was laying off more people this week as part of its cost-cutting measures. This comes in the wake of how CNN, a WBD-owned news network, had to cut around 100 people just last week.

Suffice it to say that David Zaslav has some serious decisions to take. In fact, it seems like the head honcho might already be en route to making some strategic decisions. Per Financial Times, “David Zaslav was examining several strategic options, ranging from selling assets to hiving off its Warner Bros movie studio and Max streaming service into a new company unburdened by most of the group’s current $39bn net debt load.”

According to experts on the matter, if this “strategic spin-off” was implemented, a heavy part of the debt would go to the TV group, leaving the faster-growing streaming services (flagship streaming services Max and Discovery+) and studio businesses to be more flexible with their investments and subsequent growth.

Zaslav, the 35-year chief media executive, has never been one to back down from challenges. He has been responsible for quite a lot of changes in his time with Discovery since 2006. Not to mention, the 64-year-old has repeatedly cited his ability to match competent bids. Hence, we might as well hang on to the last thread the NBA has offered for Charles Barkley and his Inside Crew’s continuation.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you believe there might be a hope of watching the goofy gang of four again? Or is it as good as done? Let us know in the comments.