Continuing with last year’s theme of why the NBA’s doing an in-season tournament, the Inside Guys discussed the NBA Cup quarterfinals today with a little side commentary. After beating the Mavs 118-104, the OKC Thunder advanced to the NBA Cup semifinals in Vegas. This one will be a joint broadcast with TNT and ESPN. The 2025 NBA Cup will look different with NBC and Amazon replacing TNT in the NBA media landscape and Inside the NBA getting licensed to ESPN. But the numbers and Shaquille O’Neal prove that it’s the Inside Guys who are key to NBA viewers and not the NBA Cup.

Kenny Smith misunderstood the quarterfinals’ schedules and while Ernie Johnson clarified it, Shaq made an offhanded comment. “They don’t watch these games, they watch these shows.” It nearly went unnoticed, especially since the other analysts didn’t react to it. Even when Kenny mentioned it by announcing how the Bucks won, Shaq again said, “They watch us.”

It’s true!

Every fan’s primary concern about TNT getting sidetracked for the $76 billion media package was the fate of Inside the NBA. For 35 years, it’s been the fan-favorite staple of NBA viewing. Irrespective of the numbers, this unscripted crazy quartet was the biggest appeal while watching the games. Now the latest numbers prove it.

The numbers for the NBA Cup’s group stage are in and TNT looks like a winner. TNT averaged 1.5 million viewers across eight games in comparison to ESPN’s 1.16 million for six games per Front Office Sports.

To the uninitiated, Adam Silver initiated the in-season tournament in 2023 to increase the regular season viewership. However, the curse of the NBA’s low ratings has struck the tournament too. Viewership of the NBA Cup’s group stage averaged 1.33 million viewers across the 14 games on ESPN and TNT. That’s a 10% drop compared to the inaugural tournament last year.

As Shaq said, TNT drew a higher viewership because of Inside the NBA on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He also claimed that the NBA has become monotonous due to the excessive number of three-pointers. It’s raining 3s in most matches. Shaq’s right and Adam Silver has something to think about.

Shaquille O’Neal pressed Adam Silver’s nerve

Shaquille O’Neal has brought this up to every guest on The Big Podcast to prove his point that threes are ruining the NBA. But Adam Silver hit back, “I think that we pay a lot of attention to what we see in our game. Sometimes, there’s more appreciation for a 12-foot jump shot than a 30-foot jump shot. When Shaq played, it was the exact opposite, with critics complaining, ‘There’s not enough variation in your game – it’s all about dunking.'”

The fact is, it’s a combination of factors. From the modern style of play that retired legends criticize to the frequency of injured stars this season, a lot is making NBA games unappealing. At such times, the biggest draw is something like Shaq’s absurd opinions or Chuck’s off-the-cuff comments.

Even Charles Barkley said on The Mark Jackson Show that what makes Inside the NBA a hit is its appeal to a diverse audience. Silver is aware of it, too. Hence, after hinting that the NBA won’t be without the Inside Guys, all involved parties struck a deal to license the entirety of Inside the NBA to ESPN. The only hold-up? Shaq’s got to agree!