The NBA’s breakup with Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports is getting ugly fast.
With TNT threatening to sue the league, superstar analyst Charles Barkley blasted the NBA for not giving his network a fair chance in the negotiations. Without naming names, he also ripped NBA commissioner Adam Silver and league owners for “choosing money over the fans.”
“Clearly, the NBA has wanted to break up with us from the beginning. I’m not sure TNT ever had a chance. TNT matched the money, but the league knows Amazon and these tech companies are the only ones willing to pay for the rights when they double in the future. The NBA didn’t want to piss them off. It’s a sad day when owners and commissioners choose money over the fans. It just sucks,” wrote Barkley in a statement released on Bleacher Report’s X feed to 18.3 million followers.
Barkley has claimed he’ll retire after this season, but in an interview Friday with Dan Patrick, did not sound like he was leaving television. He told Patrick he had spoken with NBC, ESPN, and Amazon, and would consider working with or without his Inside the NBA teammates.
Barkley signed a 10-year deal with TNT in 2022, which The Athletic reported Friday was worth more than $200 million. But he also has an out clause if his network loses the NBA rights. Earlier this week, the NBA announced it was awarding its media rights to incumbent ESPN and third-party bidders Amazon Prime Video and NBC Sports in a monster deal valued at $77 billion over 11 years. If that becomes official, an unplugged Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson will shoot one final season of the iconic Inside the NBA during the 2024–2025 season.
Barkley told Patrick on Friday that TNT must guarantee his entire deal or he will be free to pursue free agency after a final season on the air. “Under no circumstances am I taking a pay cut. Zero chance of me taking a pay cut,” he said. Barkley doesn’t think TNT will guarantee his enormous deal. So if he changes his mind about retirement, Barkley’s poised to become the richest, most sought-after free agent in sports TV history. Patrick speculated he could get $30 million from the likes of Amazon. But Barkley said the deciding factor for him would not be money, but work schedule.
“I just want to thank everybody who has been at Turner the last 24 years. They are the best people and the most talented and they deserve better,” added Barkley. “I also want to thank the NBA and its fans—the best fans in sports. We’re going to give you everything we have next season.”
Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT filed a lawsuit against the NBA on Friday accepting its matching offer to Prime.
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