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Just days after announcing his plan to leave Inside the NBA after 37 years in the host chair, Ernie Johnson told Front Office Sports Tonight he hopes the show will go on without him.
“I don’t want to be blamed for ending Inside the NBA,” Johnson told Matt Iseman on FOS Tonight. “I’m stepping away from my role on there. I would hope that they could continue the show in some form. And there are plenty of great studio hosts out there who could do what I do.”
Johnson, 70, said in a video posted on social media Wednesday he will step back from his hosting role at the end of this NBA season. While Johnson will continue to perform other broadcasting duties, including for CBS and TNT during March Madness, he said the decision will allow him to “slow down a bit” as he deals with heart issues.
Johnson has hosted Inside the NBA, a halftime and postgame show for NBA broadcasts, since 1990. The show’s regular cast of Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neil has been in place since 2011, and the quartet has established a rapport that made Inside the NBA a fan favorite.
Inside the NBA aired on TNT broadcasts of NBA games from 1989 until 2025. When Turner Sports lost NBA rights in the league’s new deal with ESPN and Amazon, TNT licensed the rights to the show to ESPN in exchange for a package of Big 12 college football and basketball games. TNT maintains full editorial control, and the show is still being produced out of TNT’s studios in Atlanta.
Barkley also said last month this will be his final season on the show, after he agreed to stay on for two years when the show moved to ESPN. In an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Barkley called himself and Johnson a “package deal.”
Johnson told FOS Tonight he wasn’t so sure of Barkley’s next move.
“As for what Chuck is going to do, I have learned many many moons ago, you never try to predict what the Chuckster is going to do,” Johnson said. “But he and I have had a lot of conversations in the past about what we’re going to do, so I will leave that final word to him.”
ESPN is committed to continuing Inside the NBA even if Johnson, Barkley, or both depart the cast after this season, sources told FOS.
ESPN’s own NBA Countdown tried and failed to compete with Inside the NBA for decades, employing dozens of different talents ranging from Magic Johnson and Bill Simmons to Maria Taylor and Rachel Nichols.
Even if a zombiefied Inside the NBA show lurches on with a new host and revamped cast, ESPN will try to keep Inside the NBA as its No. 1 NBA studio show, with NBA Countdown as the secondary program.
‘Inside the NBA’ After Ernie Johnson
Who could succeed Johnson? Good luck trying to follow one of the most beloved personalities in sports media. The most obvious candidates are Adam Lefkoe of TNT and Malika Andrews, host of NBA Countdown. They’re both experienced hosts. They know hoops. They’ve made their TV bones hosting similar shows.
Ex-ESPNer Dan Patrick just came out supporting Lefkoe for the job, saying he wouldn’t dispute the show’s unique chemistry. “Adam Lefkoe, I hope that he’s in the on-deck circle,” said Patrick on his show Thursday. “I think he would be a natural transition from Ernie. And we love Lefkoe. I think he’s a fun guy, great team player, knowledgeable, and could slide into that chair.”
But one source told FOS that a longshot candidate could be Scott Van Pelt, host of ESPN’s popular midnight SportsCenter. It would be difficult for Van Pelt. The host of Monday Night Countdown is known more for his NFL and Masters coverage. He’s based in Washington D.C. while Inside the NBA is shot in Atlanta. But Van Pelt is seen as having the right combination of comedic chops and gravitas to hold his own with the show’s boisterous cast.
“SVP could do a great job. But would he want it?,” says one source. “Any host of that show has to realize up front that they are not the star. It’s Charles, Shaq and Kenny.”
What if TNT decides to give Inside the NBA a viking funeral? That’s where it could get tricky. TNT still independently produces the show, while ESPN only has a licensing/distribution deal. But if TNT pulls out, it risks losing the Big 12 games it gets from ESPN as compensation. In the end, both sides might have to “mutually” decide to end the show, say sources.
In its likely final season with both Johnson and Barkley, Inside the NBA will make 25 appearances on ESPN or ABC after Barkley complained the crew did not get enough air time last season.
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