Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith will also remain with the network and will continue the show during its migration to ESPN. But as for Shaq, his future is actually uncertain.
“Sources say O’Neal’s contract with WBD expires on July 1, 2025.
O’Neal has a slightly different deal than his three castmates because they do other things for WBD, including the NCAA tournament. Shaq’s deal is strictly for the NBA and it’s up in about eight months.
While sources say Shaq wants to remain on the show, he’s frustrated that there has been congratulations and press releases hyping that Inside the NBA is remaining the same while he is currently not under contract to be with the company next season.”
The show would simply not be the same without Shaq, whose chemistry especially with Barkley is unparalleled.
Shaq still has plenty of time to strike a deal with either Warner Brothers Discovery, ESPN, Amazon, or NBC before next season begins.
NBA fans got huge news on Saturday: The ‘Inside The NBA’ show will be back. Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal are heading to ESPN and ABC next season as part of an out-of-court settlement between Warner Brothers …
NBA fans got huge news on Saturday: The ‘Inside The NBA’ show will be back. Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal are heading to ESPN and ABC next season as part of an out-of-court settlement between Warner Brothers Discovery and the NBA.
The Timberwolves were down bad on Thursday night. How down bad? Ask Ernie Johnson.
The Minnesota Timberwolves laid an egg during the first half of Game 5 for the 2024 Western conference finals on Thursday night, and it stunned Inside the NBA commentator Ernie Johnson to the point of actually swearing.
It was a very PG potty word for the typically mild-mannered Johnson, who said that the Dallas Mavericks “opened up a serious can here at Target Center” on Minnesota during the first two quarters.
When fellow Inside the NBA commentator Kenny Smith pressed Johnson to explain what he meant, he delivered the line of the night.
“Can of whoop ass,” Johnson retorted. “69-40. Man alive.”
That is absolutely priceless for Johnson and absolutely brutal for the Timberwolves. It takes a lot to get Johnson to say a bad word on camera.
"They have opened up a serious can here at Target Center." – Ernie Johnson
With the future of TNT’s Inside the NBA up in the air as the league’s television rights are in flux, broadcasting legend Ernie Johnson seemed to understand the gravity of his Sports Emmy speech.
Johnson won the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Personality/Studio Host on Tuesday night, and he delivered a very emotional speech that centered on the gratitude he has for his job and the people he gets to work with at TNT.
It’s very possible that Inside the NBA will end after the 2024-25 NBA season if the league rights go to other entities than Warner Bros. Discovery, which would be a massive blow to NBA fans across the globe who regard the program as one of the best in the medium.
An emotional Ernie Johnson accepts the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Personality/Studio Host.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 22, 2024
Johnson seems to clearly understand the stark wisdom of appreciating what you have while you’ve got it, and it’d just be terrible to see him moved away from NBA coverage while he’s still with the broadcasting company.
We’ll see what happens with the NBA broadcasting rights and do what Johnson recommends: appreciate Inside the NBA while we’ve got it.
“Music and sports have always been intertwined and probably always will be.”
Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith had no idea what was coming next. Neither did Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson, though neither would have recognized it even if they did.
As TNT’s Inside the NBA welcomed fans to halftime between the Mavericks and Clippers on May 1, the hosts of the beloved basketball talk show were met with a clip from “Euphoria” by rapper Kendrick Lamar, which was perhaps the most vicious of Lamar’s many diss tracks against Drake.
Johnson, unaware of the context of the music, introduced his co-hosts as the song continued to play. It took some time for Smith to realize what was happening but once he did, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Why y’all putting us in the middle of the rap beef, man?” Smith said on the broadcast. “Come on, man!”
Once he caught on, O’Neal laughed wholeheartedly at the absurdity of the situation. Barkley looked disgruntled and couldn’t believe “grown [expletive] men” would involve themselves in such petty drama as a rap beef. Johnson tried his darnedest to bring it back home and get the crew to talk about basketball, asking his co-hosts about the Mavericks to no avail.
Clever audio programming like this has become one of the many secret ingredients that leads to the continued success of Inside the NBA. Music is typically the first part of the halftime studio show and sets up whatever the crew is going to talk about for the next 15 minutes. None of this happens by accident.
“We’re just trying to throw as much stuff in front of Shaq, Charles, Kenny and Ernie that’s going to get a reaction out of them,” Keith Robinson, a TNT Sports studio producer for Inside the NBA, told For The Win. “It created a moment.”
Within seconds, fans on the internet went wild for the “Euphoria” clip. It was especially captivating because the song had only been released the previous day. The “Euphoria” lead-in was also a perfect encapsulation of the show that has aired since 1989, which has now spanned more than a decade with this unique cast of characters.
Robinson works directly alongside Donzell Floyd, a senior associate producer and director for TNT Sports, on these choices.
“Every now and then, our talent will have input but very rarely will they know what song is coming in,” Floyd said. “That’s why you saw the reaction you saw when we played the Kendrick record. They had no idea. They usually don’t know.”
For example, they knew when they played Kendrick Lamar, it could have gone one of several ways. That includes the cast potentially not even hearing it or having any reaction whatsoever.
“Or maybe Shaq is going to hear it and jump up and do something that is so crazy that it’s going to have to make us play an extra minute or a minute and a half,” Floyd said. “All of those things are on the table at that point.”
Multiple record labels have reached out to the folks at TNT Sports with a list of new releases they can potentially play on the broadcast.
It isn’t just the studio show that uses music to keep the audience engaged, though. During games on TNT’s broadcast, associate producer Erron Banks is also intentional with his music decisions.
Banks picks between 12-to-15 pre-cut songs when he is fading in music on the game broadcast. For the studio show, meanwhile, Floyd said that he will actually have somewhere between 60-to-100 songs queued up at any given moment.
TNT is under an ephemeral clause, which means they are allowed a courtesy one-time use only. When the game does re-air, they substitute their TNT theme music where those songs played.
TNT Sports
Whether it’s something as obscure as “Game Over” by Houston rapper Lil’ Flip during a Rockets victory or a popular throwback like nWo’s Wolfpac theme during a Timberwolves win, these choices can lead to viral moments online as well.
“Sometimes we have played music like Lil’ Flip and I haven’t thought of him in ages and we’ll see he’s trending on Twitter because people are tagging him that he was on NBA on TNT.” Robinson said. “I always wonder what guys like Lil’ Flip are thinking of when that happens. Did he even hear it or see it himself? Why am I trending right now?”
Music is genuinely one of the characters on TNT for the live broadcast and the studio shows. But if people are starting to notice that more now, that’s only because there are more people tuning in this time of year.
“It’s basically a part of the show just as much as we show fan tweets and posts talking about the guys, the music is a part of our overall coverage,” Robinson said “It’s just amplified now because people are watching the playoffs and more eyes are tuned in.”
“Music and sports have always been intertwined and probably always will be,” Floyd added. “It feels like it may be a little bigger recently but we have been doing music for years now because it’s a part of our DNA at this point.”
The cast will sometimes sing songs when they’re creating a mood on the set, even when they’re not on the air. But while the reactions are often beautifully spontaneous and improvised, the audio programming is not.
“It’s not just to play music,” Robinson said. “It’s all thoughtful and looking for the right moment for the right song at that moment to not only have an impact with the guys in the studio but for stuff to catch online.”
Inside the NBA producers are often thinking of location and demographic for the game they are assigned when they make their needle drops. Perhaps the halftime highlights lead with Anthony Edwards, then TNT may choose a musician from Edwards’ hometown of Atlanta.
Or if the game is in Indianapolis, Floyd is likely to have his headphones on midway through the second quarter to find the perfect track to play at the break. Even if people do not realize TNT chose to play Babyface during a Pacers game because the rapper is from Indiana, there was an intentionality to the process.
“It depends on where we are and then I start digging through the crates,” Floyd said.
Last season, for example, they had a Warriors game in the Bay Area and used it as an excuse to play Oakland-native MC Hammer.
O’Neal heard the song and brilliantly challenged Barkley to do MC Hammer’s typewriter dance, which immediately derailed all attempts at analysis for the remainder of the segment.
It wasn’t ideal to spark high-level basketball analysis but it was wildly entertaining for fans.
Similarly, a few years ago, the crew was providing halftime analysis when the Heat played the Bucks. The studio played Rick Ross because he is from Miami and O’Neal had a joking moment with Johnson, assuming he didn’t know who that was.
Johnson correctly identified the song as one by “The Boss” Rick Ross and hilariously shouted out “M.I. Yayo”, a signature catchphrase of the rapper. It is all a part of the magic that keeps this show so engaging.
“That’s just another way to have fun with them and give the audience a peek behind the curtain with not just basketball but part of the culture,” Robinson said.
Even though the future of TNT’s NBA rights are up in the air, it is this sort of careful attention to detail that makes Inside the NBA such a defining part of the basketball ethos.
“We have the best show going and we’re going to continue to do what we do.” Floyd said. “We hope that it impacts and affects someone and it makes your day feel that much better because we’re in the business of entertainment.”
🧵 With the news that TNT might lose the NBA, it’s time to share the story about Ernie Johnson and the @NBAonTNT halftime show he made for my Bar Mitzvah.
It began w my dad and ended w me being called a drug addict & ballhog (fair, tbh) in front of family & friends
With such uncertainty, fans of the show like author Ben Kaplan are paying tribute to Inside the NBA while it still exists.
Kaplan tweeted a thread about a Bar Mitzvah gift that he received from his father.
Back in 2000, Kaplan’s father called the folks at TNT to ask if they would record something for the occasion. Johnson was interested and sent back a VHS tape.
Here’s the first half of the report, featuring George Karl and Kenny. It’s cutesy and a neat thing for a teenage boy.
(Gonna cut this off before they get to Vecsey because that’s where the magic happens)
Johnson was joined by Kenny “The Jet” Smith, who is still a co-host of the show more than 20 years later.
They parodied an episode of Inside the NBA to report that Kaplan would skip high school and go straight to the pros.
While the two did not yet have Charles Barkley (who joined the show later that year) and Shaquille O’Neal (joined in 2011, this particular panel included former NBA head coach George Karl and veteran reporter Pete Vescey.
And here’s the second half. I still to this day have no idea how @PeterVecsey1 did this with a straight face. He knows he’s talking about a 13-yr-old on the biggest day of that kid’s life, with friends and family watching!
While the part of the story involving Vescey is very silly, there is also an incredibly heartwarming aspect as well. Kaplan shared that in 2022, his dad was fighting a rare cancer diagnosis and Johnson stepped up yet again.
Johnson recorded a special message for Kaplan’s father’s 72nd birthday, and he called it the best gift he ever received. The two began texting, especially while Kaplan’s father received treatments.
Ben, my friend. You think you do, but you have no idea what this series of events meant to me. My only explanation for the opportunity and the timing is, as @petermayermusic writes in his song “Loose in the World” is that this was all “the hand of the Divine.” Blessings on you and your family.
This is such a beautiful story the encapsulates what Inside the NBA means to so many people around the world.
Legendary TNT sports broadcaster Ernie Johnson and former NBA star-turned-commentator Charles Barkley have a very strong friendship and on-air partnership, but those two will never miss a good joke.
As Capital One debuted a giant blimp themed after Barkley, the “Chuck Blimp,” that will travel to Phoenix, Arizona, for the Final Four, Johnson found the absolutely perfect moment to roast his pal and co-worker.
If you’re wondering, oh yes, Johnson said that the blimp’s Barkley head is accurate to size for Barkley’s actual head.
Now this is the kind of March Madness roasting that we need. You can bet that Barkley got a huge kick out of that and the blimp in general.
There's an actual Charles Barkley blimp from Capital One.
The "Chuck Blimp" is going to Phoenix for the Final Four.
Johnson and Barkley’s rapport is one of the best parts of Inside the NBA and basically anything those two do in sports broadcasting, and we have to hand it to Johnson. That was a pretty sick burn on Barkley.
‘Inside the NBA’ is a staple that basketball fans have appreciated for decades. Hosted by Ernie Johnson since 1991, the show has become one of the most entertaining television programs, winning 18 Sports Emmy Awards. Johnson spoke with HoopsHype …
‘Inside the NBA’ is a staple that basketball fans have appreciated for decades. Hosted by Ernie Johnson since 1991, the show has become one of the most entertaining television programs, winning 18 Sports Emmy Awards.
Johnson spoke with HoopsHype about the intensity of covering the NCAA tournament along with the NBA, working with Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, and more.
“We’ll show the whole ceremony when the Celtics retire your jersey.”
The NBA on TNT broadcasters are some of the best in the business. Shaq, Kenny, Ernie, and Charles make analyzing basketball fun because regularly roast each other during broadcasts. But behind-the-scenes footage from NBA All-Star weekend suggests that their jokes aren’t just for TV. In what can only be described as a likely version of their group chat, the crew gives Shaq zinger after zinger over complaints he seemingly had about his Orlando Magic jersey retirement ceremony not being shown on TNT.
NBA All-Star Weekend was filled with a lot of wild moments, including LeBron James claiming he knew nothing about the Warriors’ alleged attempt to trade for him, Kenny Smith’s WNBA 3-point line comments about Sabrina Ionescu and whatever awful display of defense was played during the All-Star game. But, nothing could have prepared us for this.
In new behind-the-scenes footage, Shaquille O’Neal appears slightly bothered that his Orlando Magic jersey retirement ceremony was shown on NBA TV and not TNT. You get the sense that he was genuinely pumped about his jersey retirement and wanted his friends to acknowledge it. However, they’re like, “Nah, no big deal. We got games to show.”
That’s when Charles Barkley starts clowning Shaq, saying the ceremony should have been on truTV. And, it all goes downhill from there.
The hosts of Inside the NBA had enough of Barkley, who complained that water (his Diet Coke substitute) doesn’t taste like anything.
Shaquille O’Neal made his way over to Barkley’s side of the desk and raided his Diet Coke supply. He found Barkley’s stash and began opening them up, drinking them and handing them to Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson.
Barkley wanted to know if his co-hosts at least felt his pain as they sipped on the soda and he then told the viewers to his their enemies close to them.
We will see how long Barkley can stick to this resolution of no Diet Coke!
