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Charles Barkley Had Comical Line About ‘Inside the NBA’ Going to ESPN, New Bosses

Andy Nesbitt

'Inside the NBA' is moving to ESPN next season.
'Inside the NBA' is moving to ESPN next season. / @TNT

Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson have made TNT's Inside the NBA the best studio in sports over the years by being able to mix in analysis on games and players with some strong personalities and a lot of humor.

Fans rightfully got nervous the show might be going away forever when TNT lost out in the recent TV rights deals with the league. Thankfully last weekend news broke that the show will be licensed to ESPN beginning next season and the crew will remain in our lives for some time to come, though Shaq still needs a new deal because he's not under contract for next year.

Barkley has had some fun this season cracking jokes about the show's future and how they didn't have to worry about bosses because they were likely going to lose their jobs anyway. But now they are keeping their jobs and will have new bosses, which led to Barkley firing off a funny line late Tuesday night: "Times have changed, Kenny. We gotta go back to kissing ass."

Never change, Charles Barkley.

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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.

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