“Didn’t Retire”: Charles Barkley Rejects Job Offer at $2.4 Billion Media Company Amid TNT’s Hopeful Future

Adam Silver’s recent statement or his own love for TNT, but Charles Barkley is in no mood to jump to another network. The discussions about TNT losing its NBA rights after season 2024–25 have been going on for quite some time now. So it’s natural for the show members to look for future options, but it seems Barkley is in no hurry. 

During an interview, 12News’ Cameron Cox asked Barkley what amount would make him consider appearing on Tenca Inc. owned 12News. “You tell your boss, you know, don’t worry about it. I might come in every now and then just to have some fun. But I’m definitely gonna enjoy,” Barkley said. It seemed the 1x All-Star wanted to end his statement with retirement, but it likely hit him that this is not retirement that he is getting. “You know it’s not even retirement… I didn’t retire. I got fired,” he said.  

Cameron Cox tried consoling the former NBA star, telling him he did not get fired. “Not yet,” Chuck said, hinting either towards one pending season or towards the existence of a last possibility for TNT. However, this was not the first time that Charles Barkley has expressed his disappointment over the whole situation. On multiple occasions earlier, the former Philadelphia 76ers star stated he was more worried about almost the 200 members associated with the show. 

More recently, he expressed his frustration at Warner Brothers’ decision to acquire college football broadcast rights rather than attempting to preserve their NBA rights. “… when they came out yesterday and said we bought college football. I was like, well, damn, they could have used that money to buy the NBA,” Barkley said on The Dan Patrick Show. However, as stated above, there may still be some hope for TNT. 

TNT’s future possibility with the NBA  

According to Puck News’ Matthew Belloni, the rumors are that Disney is ready to spend an annual amount of $2.8 billion on the ‘A’ package for ESPN and ABC. Meanwhile, Comcast/NBCUniversal will shell out approximately $2.5 billion for the ‘B’ package. And, the ‘C’ package will go to Amazon Prime Video for around $2 billion.

As for the different packages, ‘C’ includes the in-season tournament, play-in games, annual alternating conference finals, and some early-round playoff series. Package ‘B’ includes All-Star weekend, regular season games, early-round playoff games, and alternating conference finals. Meanwhile, package ‘A’ includes most of the above contents to a varying extent, but exclusive rights to the NBA finals. 

As for Adam Silver’s statement, he recently spoke with TMZ Sports regarding ongoing negotiations. “Who knows… We’re all still talking. Who knows how it’s gonna work out,” he said. As per the reports, the NBA wants Warner Bros. Discovery to pay $2.8 billion to retain the B package. Now it’s to be seen if the TNT can turn the tables in their favor.