Shaquille O’Neal vs Charles Barkley – Who Is the Highest Paid TNT Host?

Can you imagine the NBA’s premium show without Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal? Many basketball-enthusiastic kids grew up watching TNT’s Inside the NBA. It is hard to think about the show’s future without the duo’s hilarious antics and banter in it. They are the life of the show, keeping it going on for years. While these NBA players turned analysts have helped TNT gain so much profit, are they compensated enough? How much do the duo earn from their TNT jobs? Furthermore, who is the highest paid among the two?

The first one to join Inside the NBA was the Philadelphia 76ers legend. He has been part of the broadcasting world since 2000. As per reports, Barkley’s last 10-year deal paid him around $10 million per year. After the end of this deal, Sir Charles inked another deal last year which is reported to pay him between $150 million- $200 million. 

Just ahead of the 2011–12 season, the show welcomed their special addition, O’Neal. The Los Angeles Lakers legend also added the fans’ favorite Shaqtin’ a Fool. This particular segment features all the hilarious mistakes and bloopers in the league. And it is certainly one of the most intriguing and popular segments among the fans. TNT pays him around $10 million per year for the Big Aristotle’s 30-minute appearance on the show every week.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the two earn jaw-dropping values from their deals. And with that, we now know that Chuck is the highest-paid TNT analyst among the two. Interestingly, things might change due to one particular clause in Barkley and Shaq’s TNT deals. 

Will TNT lose its NBA rights?

TNT’s NBA deal is set to expire after the 2024-25 season. TNT Sports reportedly paid a handsome $1.2 billion for the current NBA deal. As per the same reports, NBC has offered $2.5 billion annually to gain NBA rights, which will most certainly help the NBA gain more profit. 

ESPN and Prime already own NBA rights. However, this wasn’t an issue as long as TNT held on to its basketball rights. But now, the future of basketball on TNT seems uncertain. To make it worse, Charles Barkley has already declared his ultimatum. Both O’Neal and Chuck reportedly have a clause in their agreement that will allow them to walk out of the company if basketball is no longer a part of TNT.

“We don’t know. I mean, it’d be sad [if the show ended]. We don’t know. I hope it does [continue]. Not just for me and Kenny, Ernie, and Shaq, but for the real people who work there, it sucks right now to be stressful,” the Phoenix Suns legend told Daily Mail. Chuck would likely get more interesting and lucrative if TNT lost its NBA rights and he became a free agent.

O’Neal has been very hopeful about it and stated that the company would try to retain the rights. In a conversation with the ‘Point Game’ with John Wall & C.J. Toledano, O’Neal said, “We don’t really have any information on it. I don’t like to think left or think right. But you know, I agree. If it’s the end of that show, I think it’ll be a travesty to everyone. … We don’t know what’s going on, but hopefully the powers and people [within TNT] will make sure that this show go well.” 

While O’Neal has shown faith in the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO, David Zaslav, the latter publicly commented that TNT will still be able to thrive without the NBA. But the question is whether it will be able to handle the loss if the two legends were to leave the company.