TNT may have lost the NBA but their basketball guy is a perfect fit for their gold broadcast. Following The Match, Turner Sports quickly shifted focus to the Crypto.com Showdown. Ahead of the December 17 clash between PGA and LIV pros, TNT has announced its star-packed broadcast team. Headlining it is none other than NBA talking ahead with the worst golf swing ever, Charles Barkley with The Godfather himself, Ernie Johnson. So call it a continuation of Chuckster’s sweaty shenanigans if you will.

It’s come full circle for Barkley, TNT, and LIV Golf this way. And Turner Sports is laying the foundation to maximize the Charles Barkley appeal outside the NBA.

Charles Barkley is at home in golf

The Showdown 2024 has a broadcasting team led by Ernie. Wherever Ernie goes, Chuck follows. But replacing Shaq and Kenny are Trevor Immelman, David Feherty, Bubba Watson and Lauren Jbara. This time it appears that Barkley won’t have to do the walk and soak another t-shirt with bodily fluids. He’d be firmly planted at the desk as the commentator as Ernie does the play-by-play while the rest of the team does the interviews at the course.

The Crypto.com Showdown takes place on Tuesday, Dec. 17, in Las Vegas at the most popular public-access golf course in Nevada, Shadow Creek Golf Course. Too bad we won’t see Charles Barkley’s creaky down swing this time (unless someone provokes him well enough) but The Showdown promises to be competitive. Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler team up to take on Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in what is a clash of two circuits.

Along with bringing together pros from the rival tours, The Showdown also brings their respective broadcasters in one space through TNT. Immelman is the main face of PGA Tour broadcasts while Feherty is currently an announcer for LIV Golf. LIV’s Bubba Watson is the on-course correspondent and Jbara is a frequent appearance on Inside the NBA. $26 billion worth Warner Bros. Discovery does seem to spreading its on-air talent across different sportscasts and major collaborations outside basketball.

Interestingly, LIV Golf was close to poaching Chuckster to their fold for a massive but undisclosed sum. However, Barkley decided to stay at TNT in 2022 despite his fears about losing the NBA. Those same fears manifested as Turner got shut out of the new NBA media rights deal.

Barkley went from almost retiring to sticking with its $210 million deal at TNT. Rumor has it that his current contract value is close to what LIV – whose prize fund is valued at $405 million – offered in 2022. And he had the opportunity to make at least a $100 million more, but Chuck chose to turn down exclusive contracts with the new NBA media partners. And now Inside the NBA will continue at ESPN. How that will impact Chuck’s secondary duties for TNT’s golfcasts will be a story for 2025. He’s making the most of it until then.

Chuckster, the golf sideshow

Sir Charles is fresh off the excitement of The Match. His golf obsession notoriously doesn’t translate to a win. He instead goes viral as the best meme in golf. At the Match, he played double-duty as a competitor and the TNT broadcaster but one of them was exhausting. He was out of breath and sweating buckets. He had to change his polo midway and sweated through it as well. Fellow golf-loving NBA star, Blake Griffin did not let him live it down.

Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith have not spared Barkley in his previous Match participations either. Lucky for his dignity, there’s no pro-am segment in The Showdown. The Crypto.com Showdown is split into three different parts. The first six holes go by the best ball rules, alternate shot follows on the next six holes, and finally singles will close out the last six.

TNT will air The Showdown live at 6 p.m ET. The TV coverage at the course begins at 4 p.m Vegas time. Fans can also watch the competition live on TBS, truTV and the B/R Sports Add-On on the Max app.