It’s the end of a era. Sort of.
Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley all paid emotional tributes on the final regular-season broadcast of Inside the NBA on TNT.
While America’s beloved sports show will continue to air next season, it will be via a new broadcaster.
The studio show that features Johnson as the host and Smith, Barkley and O’Neal as the three analysts will air on ESPN and ABC after a settlement between Warner Bros Discovery and the NBA was reached.
TNT were unable to secure the rights to the NBA after the league agreed a new 11-year $76 billion deal with ESPN/ABC, Amazon and NBC.
That new deal put Inside the NBA at risk of collapsing but TNT will now produce the show and license it to ESPN.
While Johnson, Barkley, Smith and O’Neal are all expected to present the show next season, the quartet paid tributes to TNT as they move channels this fall.
“One of the most gratifying things about the whole process is this: We start the NBA on TNT back in 1989, and then we become synonymous with the league,” an emotional Johnson said.
“For the fans out there, they think NBA, they think NBA on TNT. That’s why it hurts tonight—to know that’s gone after this next playoff run, and that’s the business of basketball, I guess.”
“But I will say this: No time for bitterness. It is time for appreciation. It’s time for gratitude.
“And it has been my pleasure to be one of your coworkers, one of your teammates, and a part of this family. Love you.”
Barkley took the opportunity to praise Johnson as a fantastic colleague.
“Me, Kenny and Shaq are three of the luckiest dudes in the world,” Barkley said.
“But the person who makes it all go, the reason we call you ‘The Godfather,’ Ernie Johnson, you are the man.”
The outdoor crowd then began to give Johnson a standing ovation and chant his name, leading led to the 68-year-old tearing up.
Inside the NBA first aired in 1989, with Johnson hosting the show since 1990.
Smith joined Johnson in 1989, before Barkley joined in 2000 and was brutally roasted on his debut.
The icon line-up was completed in 2011 when O’Neal joined.
Since the early 2000s, the show has consistently rated among the best sports analysis shows on American television.
As a result it’s won a whopping 19 Emmys.
