Entertainment
Charles Barkley says next season will be his last on television
Charles Barkley said Friday that next season will be his last on television, no matter what happens with the NBA’s media deals.
The Hall of Fame player has worked as a studio analyst for TNT for the past 24 years, which can lose the rights to broadcast the NBA after next season.
But regardless of where the games find yourself, Barkley won’t follow.
“There’s been a lot of noise around our network over the last few months, and I just want to say that I’ve talked to all the other networks, but I’m not going anywhere other than TNT,” Barkley said while working on NBA TV’s NBA Finals Postgame Show.
The NBA’s current contracts with ABC-ESPN and Turner Sports expire after next season, and the league is in talks with NBC, ESPN and Amazon, in addition to other networks and platforms, about what comes next. Commissioner Adam Silver expressed hope last week that recent long-term contracts would be finalized soon.
Barkley and his TV teammates Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith discussed their uncertain future on the favored studio show “Inside the NBA.” Barkley would seemingly attract interest from any network that broadcasts the NBA, however the 61-year-old decided that 25 years would be enough and hopefully “pass the baton to a TNT teammate like Vince Carter or Jamal Crawford.”
“But I made my own decision, no matter what happens, next year will be my last year on television,” he said.