Charles Barkley said Friday that next season will be his last on TV, regardless of what happens with the NBA’s media deals.
The Hall of Famer has spent the past 24 years working as an incredibly popular studio analyst for TNT. who could lose the rights to broadcast NBA games after next season. But no matter where the games end, Barkley says he won’t be on the air.
“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. final postgame show.
The NBA’s current agreements with ABC-ESPN and Turner Sports expire after next season, and the league has been talking to NBC, ESPN and Amazon, among others, about what comes next. Each rights deal is estimated worth approximately $76 billion for the NBA for a decade. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last week that he hopes new long-term deals will be reached soon.
Barkley and teammates Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith discussed their uncertain futures on their popular Inside the NBA studio show. Barkley would seemingly draw interest from every network that broadcasts the NBA, but the 61-year-old has decided that 25 years will be enough.
“I hope the NBA stays on TNT, but for me personally, I wanted you guys to hear it from me…I wanted to tell my NBA TV and TNT family that I’m not going to another network, but I’m going passing the baton to Jamal Crawford or Vince Carter or to you Steve [Smith],” Barkley said Friday. “But next year I’m just retiring after 25 years, and I just wanted to thank you. And I wanted you to hear it from me first.”