Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is a voice of reason in difficult NBA times.
As the future of TNT’s beloved basketball analysis program Inside the NBA is up in the air, fans are trying to console themselves by celebrating the return of another beloved hoops broadcast staple.
Well, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog of all people (er, puppets) has emerged as a voice of reason in the midst of the broadcast uncertainty.
With puppet master/comedy legend Robert Smigel at his side, Triumph absolutely lambasted the exchange of Inside the NBA for “Roundball Rock” on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Thursday.
“What a great deal; we’re trading Charles Barkley for John Tesh,” Triumph joked to the program. “That’s a fair trade. Maybe we can trade Kenny Smith for Yanni.”
Look, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog has a very clear point here. As cool as “Roundball Rock” is for nostalgic reasons, losing Inside the NBA as we know it is not fixed by getting a broadcast jingle back.
Hopefully, cooler heads prevail somehow, and Inside the NBA survives the broadcast rights dilemma facing Warner Bros. Discovery. However, Triumph’s point looms large. Is this really the payoff it’s billed to be?
Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time today.
Here’s today’s word from Michelle Martinelli in Paris.
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PARIS — Bonjour, les gagnants! This morning, I had the incredible opportunity to swim in one of Speedo’s technical suits, just like the ones swimmers will compete in at the Paris Olympics. Back when I was competing [redacted] years ago, I raced in something similar, but this was next level.
Speedo held the event at the historic Molitor hotel, and after the 10 minutes it took me to squeeze into this suit, I hit the pool. I was only waist deep, and I could feel the suit’s buoyancy lifting me in the water. That’s a key element to help swimmers stay on top of the water, but I wasn’t prepared for how literal that feeling is.
C’est moi.
Now three-time Olympic swimmer Ryan Murphy told me back in May: “The first time I put on a tech suit, I felt like Superman in the water.” And that’s exactly right. I felt invincible, smoothly gliding through the water.
He also estimated the tech suits shave off about a second for every 50 meters when racing, and after trying the suit out, I believe it.
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Turner Sports)
Things between the NBA and TNT are as tenuous as ever.
The league announced on Wednesday that it’d be rejecting TNT’s contract match to the deal the league constructed with Amazon Prime. The NBA claimed that the deal TNT proposed wasn’t an actual match at all, so it’s moving on.
Meanwhile, TNT is upset and believes the NBA doesn’t have room to reject its contract offer because of its matching rights. TNT seems to simply thing that all it has to do is decide that it wants to retain the NBA’s rights.
There are only two things that are clear about this current situation to me:
The first is this: The only way forward for this now seems to be the legal route. Sure, nobody wants to go to court, but these two sides are very far apart in their positions. When that happens, lawyers get involved.
Here’s the second: There’s probably no coming back from this. Never say never, of course. But the NBA wants to be done with TNT. Maybe a judge clarifies that that doesn’t matter, but I can’t see these two sides working together again.
If that’s the case, Inside the NBA is over. It’s time to give it up.
My only hope was that, through all of this, Inside the NBA would find a way to persist. It’s the best pre- and post-game show in sports television right now, bar none. It’s funny, it’s insightful, the players love it, the fans love it. It’s not perfect, but it does what it does very well.
I’ll watch the NBA no matter what network it comes on. And who knows? Maybe there will be a show packaged in with the league’s new broadcast deal that can, eventually, fill in the hole that TNT’s best sports property will leave. There’s also a chance some Inside the NBA staff will move over to Amazon.
But, man. I’m going to miss all those goofy moments between Shaq and Chuck and all the races with Kenny Smith on the board. I’ll miss how the gang could transition from fun to serious in the blink of an eye, even when I didn’t always agree with them. Sometimes, they didn’t agree with each other. But there was always room for good faith discussion, which we need a lot more of in this world.
Inside the NBA isn’t the biggest deal in the world. The NBA moving on and, hopefully, improving its coverage is something I’m honestly looking forward to.
But potentially losing this show does feel a bit like losing a friend. If this is truly the end, I’ll miss it. I think we all will.
Booooo, Oilers
Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
The Oilers hiring disgraced ex-Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman to run their franchise is not only a black mark on the team, but on the entire league.
For those of you who don’t know, Bowman was one of seven members of the Blackhawks organization to turn their heads and look away when deciding whether the team should report that one of their own players had been sexually assaulted by Brad Aldrich back in 2010.
Now, he’s working in hockey again. This is appalling. It should be shocking but, as Blake Schuster points out, this is how the NHL gets down.
“It’s hard to feel anything but nihilistic — though anger and embarrassment put up a good fight — because this is just what hockey does. It allows someone like Mitchell Miller get drafted despite knowing he bullied a Black classmate with developmental disabilities. Then it allows Miller to get signed (and quickly dropped) again after fans pressured the Arizona Coyotes Utah Hockey Club to renounce his rights. It lets Trevor Connelly get drafted in the first round this year despite similarly concerning incidents. It lets Logan Mailloux, who was charged with sharing explicit pictures of a sexual act without the consent of his partner, get drafted even after he asked to be removed from the prospect pool. None of those incidents even begin to cover the Hockey Canada mess, either.
Sense a pattern here? The next time you wonder about why a GM would bring troubled players into the league, remember it’s people like Bowman who are being empowered to do so.”
Have some shame, Edmonton. Get this guy out of here.
Quick hits: Brat summer, explained … 5 NFL holdouts to watch … and more
Could members of Inside the NBA make their way to Amazon Prime Video in 2025?
Amazon reportedly has interest in bringing members of the Inside the NBA cast over to its basketball coverage once the league tentatively starts broadcasting on the streaming platform in 2025.
According to Sports Business Journal, Amazon Prime Video global head of sports Jay Marine said that the company would not be opposed to adding any of the Inside of NBA crew to its roster of talent.
“Obviously, there’ll be a lot of interest, and we’ll just have to see how that plays out,” Marine told SBJ about the possibility of adding names like Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.
However, SBJ reporter Tom Friend notes that the show moving intact to another platform feels like a long shot for various reasons.
But sources familiar with Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns Inside the NBA, said today that there is “essentially zero chance of the show going anywhere intact” — because, Johnson is reportedly not interested in exiting Turner and, because Barkley, O’Neal and Smith are under long-term contracts.
Barkley has said he has an out in his contract if WBD loses the NBA, but those sources indicated that was not necessarily the case and that all the contracts were unique with variables that could prohibit a switch to Amazon, NBC or Disney, the league’s three impending partners after next season.
Things are officially messy between the NBA and TNT
The future of the NBA on TNT and, more specifically, Inside the NBA has never been more in doubt than it is right now.
For weeks, we’ve been following the reporting on the NBA’s new broadcast deal negotiations. The league agreed to a $76 billion deal with ESPN, NBC and Amazon, making all three entities the new home of the NBA for the next 11 seasons. TNT and Turner Sports were on the outside looking in.
That is, until just a few days ago, when TNT announced it’d be using a clause in its current contract with the NBA to match its deal with Amazon, meaning that the league would remain a partner with the network and that Inside the NBA would survive.
However, the NBA made it clear that it wanted to move on and partner with Amazon, leaving room for things between the two sides to get messy.
NBA announces that Warner Bros. Discovery did not match the terms of Amazon Prime and are agreeing to a longterm arrangement with Amazon. pic.twitter.com/5bYI2i1vFd
“Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon. Throughout these negotiations our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibilty of our games for our fans. Our new arragement with Amazong supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements. All three partners have committed substantial resources to pmorote the league and enhance the fan experience.”
With the NBA now taking the first step forward in officially moving on with its new partners, we’ve got three big questions about how things happened and where things go from here.
Did the NBA get off on a technicality?
Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
The NBA makes it clear as day that TNT did not match the terms of Amazon Prime’s agreement. But what does that mean, specifically?
It doesn’t sound like this is a money thing. Warner Bros. Discovery targeted the Amazon Prime deal because it thought it could match it financially. The terms that didn’t match seem to go beyond financials.
The league says its primary objective has been to “maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans.” It touts Amazon’s ability to complement the broadcast, cable and streaming packages currently available.
Did Amazon seem to agree to a service that Warner Bros. Discovery can’t replicate? This bit from The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand’s piece on the situation after TNT decided to match the deal a few days ago may shed some light on things.
“While the exact matching language of the deals is not fully known, the package that Amazon has won is not exactly the same as TNT Sports’ current arrangement. For example, TNT’s present contract calls for the conference finals every year as compared to every other. The NBA and Amazon may have agreed to other rights that TNT cannot deliver.”
If the NBA and Amazon have agreed to things TNT can’t do, the league may have felt that was enough reason to nix the deal.
Will TNT take this to court?
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
With the NBA seemingly moving on here, what is the next step for TNT? Surely, the network isn’t going to give this up without a fight. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have made the effort to match.
As far as TNT is concerned, according to Marchand’s latest from The Athletic, the network’s matching rights simply allow it to say whether it wants to keep the NBA or not — that may be considered different from matching the deal word for word in the network’s eyes.
If that’s the case, TNT could take this thing to court, though, neither side reportedly wants to go there. Here’s more from Marchand:
“Neither side would likely want to enter a legal case, where private conversations could become public during discovery. If TNT does file a suit, it could lead to more talks and a possible compromise with other NBA rights or financial possibilities being the outcome.”
But what about everyone else? Will the show just dissolve next season? There may be a scenario where some of the personalities we see on TNT simply migrate over to other networks to cover the league. We’ll just have to wait and see.
But reality is here now. We may be watching the end of an era next season. Honestly, after 40 years, it’s kind of sad to see.
For months, we’ve all been wondering about the future of the relationship between TNT and the NBA. Things aren’t exactly clear now, but at least there seems to be a path forward with some direction.
TNT has reportedly decided to match Amazon’s bid to the NBA, according to reporting from The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. The company also released a statement stating its intention to match the bid and retain the NBA.
“We have reviewed the offers and matched on of them. This will allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage, including the best live game productions in the industry and our iconic studio shows and talent, while building on our 40-year commitment for many more years,” the statement read.
Though TNT has evoked its matching rights, it still isn’t a done deal that the NBA will return to the network after next season. Remember, TNT still retains the rights for the 2024-25 NBA season. The league’s new broadcast deal doesn’t kick in until the 2025-26 season.
The NBA reportedly intends to move forward with the Amazon deal, according to Marchand’s reporting. The agreed upon deal between the NBA and Amazon features things TNT wouldn’t be able to offer.
The league’s agreement with Prime Video will stream six conference finals and a full playoff slate on the streamer. The package also includes the Play-In games and the NBA’s In-Season tournament as the highlight of the regular season. It also would bring on Thursday night basketball following the NFL’s Thursday Night Football stint.
Now, Marchand says, the NBA has to negotiate with TNT. That could get messy.
“As a way to compromise, the two sides could try to reach an agreement that keeps TNT in the NBA business or gives it some sort of financial settlement to go away.
If the entities can’t agree, ultimately, they could land in court with TNT suing to stay in business with the league, which would set up the unique possibility of the courts forcing the NBA to remain with a partner it wants to divorce.”
We’re far away from a resolution now. There also seems to be a very real possibility this may go to court as it unfolds.
But as of now, there’s still a chance that the Inside the NBA show may still have some life beyond next season—even if the NBA doesn’t want that to happen.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. You could’ve been anywhere on the internet this morning, but you’re here with us. We appreciate you. Happy Friday!
It sounds like we’ll finally be getting an answer on the future of Inside the NBA soon.
But TNT isn’t out of the picture just yet. The company has matching rights on whatever deal the NBA agrees to, according to the latest from Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy. It can reinsert itself into the conversation by matching one of the offers from NBC Universal or Amazon.
According to McCarthy, TNT has five days left to decide if it’ll match one of the NBA’s new deals.
“TNT got the contracts Wednesday night, say my sources. So it will have approximately five days, until next Monday, to “match” either Amazon Prime Video’s $1.8 billion–per-year offer or NBC’s $2.5 billion–per-year bid. (Disney’s ABC/ESPN is expected to retain the NBA’s TV “A” package, including the NBA Finals, at a price of $2.8 billion per year.)”
Deadline reported on Wednesday that TNT intends to match the Amazon Prime Video offer, which is reportedly $700 million cheaper than the NBC bid. That won’t come easy. Considering how much money is on the table here, it will probably get ugly and litigious. The stakes are high.
But this is good news for fans hoping the Inside the NBA crew could stick together for the long run. Regardless of negotiations, we’re technically still getting one more season of the show, but so many people have grown up with this show and its incredible cast of characters. Charles Barkley and crew have worked their way into people’s hearts over the last few decades. Knowing that it’s on its last legs is a bit heartbreaking. Most people don’t want to see that simply go away.
This All-Star game is generally a blast. And — get this — it’s usually competitive! Like, the players actually try. And the fans appreciate it!
That should especially be the case this year, considering the stakes. It’s Team USA vs. the WNBA All-Stars. This isn’t just an All-Star game — it’s a warm-up game for the best players in the league before they take off to Paris and try to win another gold medal. There’s something to play for here.
On top of that, we’ve got Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese in the first of what will probably be many All-Star games for the two of them. The two rivals will be teammates for the first time in their careers. That should be fun.
Lock in this weekend, folks. This is going to be a good one.
The Open is brutal for Rory McIlroy
Sometimes life trolls you, man. Plain and simple. You can’t tell me that’s not what’s happening to Rory McIlroy. The golf gods are just messing with him. It’s mean.
“It got so bad for McIlroy on Thursday that he essentially played himself out of contention in the opening round. McIlroy shot an abysmal 77, putting him at seven-over par and tied for 133rd. No moment summed up his day quite like the bunker shot on the eighth hole, known as ‘The Postage Stamp’.”
Here’s that bunker shot.
Royal Troon is claiming victims at The Open Championship.
Awesome example of what happens in these bunkers. You can make an easy bogey, but if you want a par you often need to take a big risk.
It seems that the NBA’s broadcast home for the 2025-26 season has finally been decided. And it sounds like there’s a solid chance that TNT won’t be part of it.
The league has reportedly finalized TV deals with Amazon, ESPN and NBC to make those networks its various broadcast homes for the next 11 seasons, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.
Still, while the deal has reportedly been agreed upon, things aren’t quite over. Let’s dive into the details and talk about what happens next.
What does the NBA’s new TV Deal look like?
Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
To put things in plain terms, the NBA has reportedly agreed to an 11 year, $76 billion (SHEESH) deal with NBC, ESPN and Amazon to make all three networks their broadcast partners through the next decade. That’s a massive raise from the previous TV deal, valued at $24 billion.
The league will remain on ESPN while adding Amazon and NBC to its Rolodex of broadcast partners. There’d also be NBA games appearing on Peacock, according to Marchand’s reporting.
Wow. That’s A LOT of NBA. How much would games be on?
You’d be getting a lot more NBA games than usual. There’d legitimately be games on a national broadcast nearly every day per week.
Starting in the 2025-2026 season, the NBA will feature nationally televised games seven days a week once the NFL season concludes.
“The NBA will borrow a page from the NFL, as following the end of football’s regular season, NBC will have the NBA succeed the highest-rated primetime show on television, “Sunday Night Football,” while, on Thursdays, Amazon will do the same after its TNF coverage concludes.
During the entire regular season, Amazon Prime Video is anticipated to have its other games streamed predominantly on Friday nights and Saturdays.”
ESPN will also reportedly have fewer regular season games with more spread out across the league’s other networks.
Amazon Prime Video will be the home of the In-Season tournament. All three networks will have playoff games as well, but ESPN will have a conference finals matchup and the NBA Finals in each season.
So what happens to TNT?
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Well, things certainly look bleak for all of the Inside the NBA fans out there. With Charles Barkley’s retirement on the table the network doesn’t have much of a bargaining chip there.
While things look bleak, they certainly aren’t over. As the league’s current broadcast partner, Marchand says TNT still has the right to match any deal the NBA agrees to here.
Will TNT exercise its matching rights?
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav brought up the possibility of matching Amazon’s offer on the company’s earnings call last month. If Zaslav holds true to his word there, this negotiation is certainly not over. Warner reportedly believes NBC is overpaying for the NBA’s rights, but that Amazon slot might seem ripe for the taking.
“We’ve had a lot of time to prepare for this negotiation and we have strategies in place for the various potential outcomes,” he told investors on the call.
Whether he actually makes a move here remains to be seen.
Regardless, things seem to be set in motion now. This deal is no longer just some pie-in-the-sky idea for folks to talk about — these companies have to take action.
The NBA is ready to move forward. We’ll see how serious TNT is about moving forward with it.
Charles Barkley has plenty of options if he wants to stick around
Charles Barkley is one of the few television personalities whose illustrious Hall of Fame-caliber career in his individual sport somehow ended up overshadowed (even if ever-so-slightly) by his career on TV. That’s how transcendent Barkley’s time on Inside the NBA has been.
The timing was especially strange considering that Turner Sports is negotiating with the NBA to potentially keep some portion of the league’s broadcast on the network. He’s voiced his frustrations with the negotiations and seemed to have still been all-in on Inside the NBA and his crew.
Barkley would undoubtedly be a huge part of Turner’s pitch to the NBA, and now, theoretically, he’s not there anymore. So where do things go from here? Is Barkley seriously even retiring?
We can only take him at his word for it. But, if he doesn’t retire, he’ll surely have more than a few options for his next move.
Let’s talk about a few of them here.
Amazon Prime
Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
This is the move that everyone thinks Barkley could end up making, even if he does retire.
Amazon is reportedly one of the entities getting a piece of the NBA’s broadcast rights in the league’s next television deal. The negotiated deal would be between $1.8 billion and $2 billion, according to the Sports Business Journal.
It’s not unfounded to think that Amazon would try and poach Barkley in this scenario. The company reportedly offered Al Michaels a 3-year, $45 million contract to call its Thursday Night Football games. You could easily see Barkley getting a deal of that caliber to do a pre-game or post-game show on whatever Amazon’s NBA broadcast would be called.
NBC Sports
This is the NBC peacock logo. (NBC)
It’s hard to envision Charles Barkley at NBC. Just take a look at the brand’s broadcasts — they’re always so buttoned up and refined.
Charles Barkley tends to be the complete opposite. The guy is a talker. One second, he might be pouring his heart out for the league’s head coaches after he feels like they got a raw deal. The next, he might be completely roasting one of his co-hosts for an opinion he doesn’t agree with. You never know what you’ll get with Chuck — that’s the beauty of having him on a broadcast.
Despite the oil and water feel here, you can bet NBC would throw a bag at Barkley to get him on its airwaves talking about the NBA.
But money talks, folks! He’s reportedly already been in contact with the company (as well as both Amazon and NBC), according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. There seems to have been some interest there.
Marchand proposed an interesting “sweetheart deal” that would appease both sides:
A sweetheart deal for Barkley to do the opening night of the regular season and then the playoffs would be a win-win for everyone. Barkley would not have to work as hard and would continue to make millions while gracing the ESPN studio shows, lifting them up during the biggest games of the season, including the finals.
That’s a best-of-both-worlds scenario. Barkley wouldn’t need to work as hard as other ESPN personalities who are on multiple shows multiple times per day. But he’d also still maintain his standing as the premiere face of NBA programming for the sport’s biggest moments. Plus, he’d be out of the clutches of ESPN’s competitors.
Inside the NBA on TNT
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Turner Sports)
If Barkley reverses his decision and decides not to retire, it feels like the chances are high that he’d stick with Turner Sports at this point with or without the NBA.
Remember, Turner is still negotiating with the NBA and could potentially strike a deal with the league as its fourth broadcast rights holder. If that happens, the Inside the NBA should remain intact in one way or another. And that would mean there’s a chance Barkley gets to stay with his crew.
But even if it doesn’t, Barkley is still a key contributor in other moments for TNT, including its NCAA Tournament coverage in March. He’d still stick around for that.
None of this is set in stone at this point. There’s still plenty for all of these parties to figure out. But, when it comes down to it, Charles Barkley still has plenty of options available. It all just depends on what he wants to do.
Silver said it’s on the league to finish these negotiations quickly
Adam Silver has a job to do as NBA commissioner when it comes to getting the best possible media rights deal for the league. The overall health of the sport depends greatly on it.
He also is a both a fan of TNT’s Inside The NBA, and friends with the four hosts that make up the league’s most-popular studio show. That’s made things a bit uncomfortable amid reports that Warner Bros. Discovery, TNT’s parent company, will likely be shutout of the league’s next rights package.
We’ve heard for awhile now that the deal is expected to be completed any day and moral around the show “sucks”, according to Charles Barkley. Ahead of Thursday’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Boston, Silver had a chance to address the media and said admitted it’s been difficult having the future of the show in limbo.
Adam Silver on Inside The NBA and the ongoing TV negotiations:
“The show, in particular, is special… no one likes this uncertainty. It's on the league office to bring these negotiations to a head and conclude them as quickly as we can." pic.twitter.com/OE9KnJs4o1
“I will say directly from me, directly to your question and the people who seem to be most impacted right now, the folks at Turner Sports, I apologize that this has been a prolonged process,” Silver said. “Because I know they’re committed to their jobs. I know people who work in this industry. It’s a large part of their identity and their family’s identity, and no one likes this uncertainty. I think it’s on the league office to bring these negotiations to a head and conclude them as quickly as we can.”
In most of his (many, many) comments on the future of the show, Barkley has centered the conversation less on the four panelists and more on the staffers at TNT who make the production what it is. It’s nice to hear Silver speak directly to them, limited as that relief may be.
In any case, it’s nice to see Silver address the less fun aspects of negotiating a new broadcast deal. Whatever the league gains in this round, it will always be remembered for killing Inside The NBA if TNT is shutout, even if it’s not Silver’s fault.
Turner has the NBA for one more season, although after that? There’s a lot of speculation and reporting that they won’t snag the league’s TV rights after that.
So when Charles Barkley told Luka Doncic he would miss the Dallas Mavericks superstar because the NBA Finals are broadcast by ESPN and ABC, Doncic said, “You ain’t done yet. We gotta figure out something.”
Ernie Johnson was quick to point out they’d be around next year, but: “Who knows after that?”
That’s a very sweet moment with Luka:
"We're gonna miss you. We're done after tonight." – Charles Barkley
"You ain't done yet. We gotta figure out something." – Luka Dončić
"We got all next year too. And then who knows after that." – Ernie Johnson 🏀🎙️📺😂 pic.twitter.com/neHy0NpqI8
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 31, 2024
