December 18, mark your calendars. Chuckster is making some big bucks. And the NBA Cup will be on somewhere at the T-Mobile Arena too. But on to the more important news. The Inside Guys are in Las Vegas. And every time they are in Sin City, crazy shenanigans ensue. Like Charles Barkley turning into ‘Stank Sinatra.’ With Stephen A. Smith and the ESPN gang joining them, it’s going to get wilder. If they can get Barkley to leave the craps table that is.

The TNT jury is still out on which teams are definite contenders for the NBA Cup finals. But the crew is prepared for Vegas Hangover style. Exactly like the madness of the NBA CUp semis and finals last season, TNT and ESPN will exchange some of their regular on-air personalities for a rare joint broadcast.

At the quarter-finals stage, Sir Charles isn’t getting into the math of which team is going to win. He’s going to up the stakes elsewhere. As soon as Ernie Johnson mentions TNT’s Vegas roadshow, Chuck’s got dollar signs in his eyes and a sweet inflection in his voice when he sings, “And boy, I can smell that blackjack table.” 

Despite Ernie’s soft attempt to remind him they’re going there work, not to gamble, Barkley tells the big guy on the other end, “It smells like money, Shaq.”

Unlike Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith is concerned because Chuck has a history of losing more than winning. Not long ago, Barkley even admitted his entire gambling losses amount to at least $25 million. When The Jet asked whose money does it smell like, Barkley says, “We don’t know yet. To be determined.”

That’s also precisely the fate of the NBA Cup finalists. Chuck’s probably smelling the $514,971 prize money each of the players of the winning team will get. It is higher stakes in the in-season tournament for the teams. But the stakes are also getting higher in the broadcasting booth.

TNT ups the stakes for Vegas roadtrip

The crew behind Inside the NBA are well-prepared for the moment the quartet arrives in the entertainment capital along with their future colleagues at ESPN. When the show airs on ESPN next year, it would be interesting to see what format Turner and its fellow licensing partner come up with to also include NBC and Amazon. For this in-season tournament, they’ve orchestrated the ‘Duel in the Dust.’

Stephen A. Smith has been challenged to take on Kenny “The Jet” Smith in a free-throw contest this Saturday. Talk about high stakes. Chuck’s always down to take a good chunk of SAS’ brand new lucrative $20 million a year contract. Kenny believes he’s too good for this petty contest. And like the days prime Shaq was offended he wasn’t double-guarded, he’s proposing an entire 4vs4 matchup with every ESPN guy.

We’ll see how this pre-game competition pans out. Meanwhile the TNT crew is already reliving the best moments of the Inside Guys in Las Vegas online. Like bringing back the time Charles Barkley sang/butchered Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” with Mark & The Martinis, and Shaq’s dry backing vocals. Good times! The NBA Cup winners better be prepared to be serenaded by Chuckster & The Martinis.