“We Are Confident”: Shaq Breaks Silence On Troubling ‘Inside The NBA’ News While Ex-Agent Reveals Little Wild Card For TNT’s Favorites

The closer we get to the NBA finals, the closer we are to finding out the winner. Not of the championship, rather for who’s going to win in the battle of NBA media rights. Although early estimates are that NBC has seized the NBA and it could mean basketball is leaving TNT. If that happens, it could spell the disbandment of the current Inside the NBA Crew. Unless there’s a different way around keeping our favorite quartet together. Not only is one of Shaquille O’Neal most trusted inside man provided some much needed assurance, so is Shaq himself.

When he ran into Adam Glyn in New York, Shaq stayed positive regarding the uncertainty surrounding Inside the NBA’s future. Trusting Turner CEO David Zaslav of handling it, he said, “I think we’re in a great spot right now.” When asked if he’s confident that there will be a way of keeping the Inside the NBA team together, Shaq says, “We are confident.”

NBA insider Bill Simmons said that NBC’s $2.5 billion bid has already sealed the deal before Adam Silver announces the official decision after the playoffs. Charles Barkley expressed the fears and anxiety within TNT’s walls regarding this. If the NBA leaves the network, Shaq and Chuck with Kenny Smith could move to an alternate network. But Ernie Johnson is unlikely to leave his myriad duties at TNT he’s been committed to for over three decades. As much as we’d love all four of them to stick together, there’s an alternative to having the cat-and-mouse duo, Shaq and Chuck consistently cover the NBA.

That’s what Leonard Armato, Shaq’s former agent, and an old friend said when he talked about O’Neal’s multifaceted career at EssentiallySports. He didn’t mince his words that if the NBA does leave TNT, this would break up the group. But there’s a “wild card” that could save our favorite Emmy-winning NBA show.

Shaq’s trusted friend gives us hope

Armato told EssentiallySports that all the cards are actually with the NBA commissioner. “Adam Silver in the NBA controls who it is that will be reporting on the NBA. So they can say look, you can’t break up Chuck and Shaq. We just love that combination too much.”

The current deal expires after the 2025 season which makes the 2024-25 season possibly the last time we see this version of Inside the NBA. As Armato said, if Silver wants this duo intact as much as fans, we could see Shaq and Chuck keep doing what they’re doing, possibly at TNT or NBC or any other network. With Amazon Prime developing its basketball gallery, they could be interested in the quartet too.

But it also depends on whether Shaq, Chuck and their colleagues wish to keep going on TNT or elsewhere. As Armato reiterated, no other show, “compares to Inside the NBA.” And TNT is doing its best to keep it.