Charles Barkley – Source: Mitchell Layton / Getty
Charles Barkley recently revealed that he left $100 million on the table to return to Turner Sports.
For over 25 years, Charles Barkley has been one of the voices of TNT Sports, and Inside The NBA has become the premier NBA show thanks to the chemistry between Charles, Shaq, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson. Despite their chemistry and ratings, the NBA is thinking ahead with their latest TV deal.
Back in May, the NBA’s Board of Governors voted on a new future and said it would be taking its rights to Disney, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video. When the deal is finalized it will likely be for over a decade and accumulate over $75 billion for the league.
During a recent interview on The Dan LeBatard Show, Barkley explained deals came to his desk from every direction amid the news that TNT will lose the NBA next season.
“The number one thing for me is my people from Turner get to keep their jobs for at least another year,” Barkley, told Le Batard. “That’s all I was concerned with.”
Barkley admitted it did stroke his ego to receive so many offers calling it “a great feeling,” but his loyalty to the people who made Inside The NBA prevailed.
“I want to thank all of those networks for reaching out to me,” the NBA Hall of Famer said. “It was really humbling and cool, to be honest with you. Even though they were throwing crazy numbers, like damn, but as long as I got my people safe at TNT man, I feel really good.” Barkley said praising his team. “Like I say, they’re going to pay me to go and talk about nothing,” Barkley said, adding a quip, “I probably would’ve had to do an honest day’s work if I went to one of those other networks.”
At the moment we unfortunately have zero clue of how sports will be handled in the future at TNT, but we’ll be watching (and laughing) with the crew.
You can watch Charles’ full interview on The Dan LeBaard Show below.