As the curtain draws on one of the NBA’s most popular show, Shaquille O’Neal was busy getting the fans attention.
‘Inside the NBA’ is airing its final season on TNT before it moves to ESPN/ABC and O’Neal stunned – and amused – fans with his X-rated rant as the show signed off for the All-Star break.
The show has become staple on screens and launched way back for the 1989-90 season.
Hosted by Ernie Johnson, featuring NBA greats Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and O’Neal, fans have grown to love the quartet and with 19 Emmys it has cemented itself as one of the great sporting studio shows to air.
Fans are concerned as it faces an uncertain future after the NBA signed a new TV rights deal that means TNT will no longer broadcast live games.
NBC, ESPN/ABC and Amazon penned an 11-year, $77 billion deal for the 2025-26 season onwards with the league.
While ESPN have announced they will air ‘Inside the NBA’ next season after buying the license from TNT, but how the show looks remains to be seen.
O’Neal is yet to sign a contract extension and with his future with the show is in doubt, and his light-hearted jab underlined that.
The show was taking place in front of a live audience in San Francisco, ahead of the All-Star Weekend and O’Neal raced his fellow analyst Barkley to the video board at the back of the set.
When getting back to his desk, he shouted: “In the words of Marshawn Lynch, ‘I’m tired as s***’,” leaving his fellow hosts stunned.
Amid silence and then a few giggles, he then followed up with: “We getting fired anyway Ernie, f*** it!”
While Johnson is contracted to next season, O’Neal’s future is up in the air.
The four-time NBA champion is likely to be wanted by networks for their coverage, and has previously spoke about his desire to stay with TNT but this was before his employers lost the rights.
Meanwhile, co-host Barkley has committed to staying with TNT for next season but has had a fallout with his bosses over his contract, something that might explain why O’Neal is yet to sign a new deal.
“The TNT people, they’re stupid,” Barkley told former ESPN anchor and current radio host Dan Patrick in early February.
“We were having some heated discussions behind the scenes down in Atlanta, they sent a cease and desist letter to NBC and Amazon saying I wasn’t available. I was like, that’s not the way my contract reads.”
Barkley has been a long-time critic of ESPN, its NBA coverage, and the network’s overall atmosphere.
“Times have changed, Kenny,’ he told Smith in November while discussing reports of the ESPN deal.
“We gotta go back to kissing a**.”
ESPN are committed to seeing Barkley, Johnson, Smith and O’Neal on our screens next year but it looks there is still a lot of work needing to be done.
