'Inside the NBA' Will Be Licensed to Air on ESPN and ABC Beginning Next Season

It appears Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA have settled their legal fight.
Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley in 2014.
Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley in 2014. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

After considerable uncertainty surrounding its future, it appears Inside the NBA will have a home going forward after all.

TNT will license Inside the NBA to air on ESPN and ABC beginning next season, according to a Saturday evening report from Joe Flint of The Wall Street Journal. The deal is reportedly part of a framework by which Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA would settle their four-month legal fight.

"The accord gives Warner Bros. Discovery the ability to develop new shows with NBA content in the U.S. and abroad, and international NBA rights in parts of Northern Europe and Latin America excluding Mexico and Brazil," Flint wrote.

Inside the NBA has aired on TNT since the 1990 season, the first year in which that network broadcast NBA games. Its panel—consisting of Hall of Fame forward Charles Barkley, host Ernie Johnson, Hall of Fame center Shaquille O'Neal, and former guard Kenny Smith—has long been acclaimed as one of sports television's best.

As part of the reported agreement, ESPN will also "sublicense Big 12 conference college football and basketball games to Warner Bros. Discovery that it can air on TNT, as well as on its Max streaming service," per Flint.

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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .