Charles Barkley says next season could 'Inside the NBA's' last unless Ernie Johnson changes his mind
· Yahoo Sports
Marc Stein: On this podcast visit with @BillSimmons, Charles Barkley says he and Ernie Johnson planned to do Inside The NBA for only two more seasons after the move to ESPN … meaning that the 2026-27 campaign would be their last season “unless Ernie changes his mind.”
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More on Charles Barkley & Ernie Johnson: Recent HoopsHype Rumors
NBA Courtside: Charles Barkley doesn’t agree with the narrative LeBron is beating Father Time? “We have to be honest about LeBron. Just because you’re putting up good numbers don’t mean you’re being affective. — People say he’s defying the odds but if my memory serves me correctly, he’s gotten swept in the playoffs the last couple of years. — LeBron is playing well but to say he’s beating Father Time, they got swept the last two years in the playoffs so don’t tell me how great he’s playing” (Via Bill Simmons podcast) — 9/4/2026 x.com
“He didn’t back down from anybody,” said Morris, now the director of Westbrook’s Team Why Not EYBL team and the boys’ basketball head coach at Redondo Union. “He was fearless. He was relentless. There’s never really been a player quite like him. I would say he kind of has, like, a Charles Barkley, a young Charles Barkley spirit, where he was just passionate and fiery. He wasn’t PC. He wore his emotions on his sleeves, and he didn’t really apologize to anyone for how he felt or what he was there to do.” — 8/18/2026 Los Angeles Times
What’s interesting about the final price of the signed box is that it’s considerably lower than the record $2.7 million that a single Fleer rookie card signed by Jordan sold for last fall, even though the box is a one-of-one while there are more than 100 authenticated ’86 Fleer Jordan autographed cards. It illustrates how scarcity isn’t always the ultimate factor in the collectibles market and how individual cards are often more desirable to collectors. — 8/10/2026 New York Times
A sealed box of 1986-87 Fleer Basketball cards, signed and inscribed by Michael Jordan, sold for $1.48 million in an eBay auction Sunday night. It’s the only unopened box of ’86 Fleer Basketball — the set includes his iconic rookie card, as well as those of multiple NBA legends like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon and more — that Jordan has autographed, which he noted with an inscription reading “Rookie Card Box 1/1.” — 8/10/2026 New York Times
Though Barkley did mention that James has provided himself advantages with “stacking the deck” throughout his career when joining talented teams. “The number one knock on LeBron for older guys like myself has always been, ‘Yo, man, you always stacking your team,'” Barkley said. “He stacked in Miami. He stacked in Cleveland. He stacked in LA. Now he’s stacking it in Philly. So that to me, I’m going to still have the same criticism I’ve always had.” — 7/25/2026 New York Post
Barkley told Stephen A. Smith on Friday that if the 76ers win two titles in LeBron James' two years in Philadelphia — that’s if he opts in to the second — after agreeing to a contract Friday, it would solidify his GOAT case. “If he wins back-to-back championships and walks away this thing at 44, 45. I’ll say something I ain’t never said before. This dude, I think I just saw the greatest basketball player ever,” Barkley told Smith. — 7/25/2026 New York Post
While at last weekend’s celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe, Charles Barkley sat down for a podcast interview with Pardon My Take. And during the episode, he addressed the viral Inside the NBA confrontation. And in true Barkley fashion, he said that it wasn’t really anything he was concerned about because he and Green went for drinks at a dive bar after the show while NBA Twitter was on fire. “What was interesting about it, I didn’t even pay it that much of attention,” Barkley said. “So we go to a little dive bar after work all the time and Dray went with me that night. And so I’m not even paying attention because I don’t do the internet. I don’t do internet sh*t. So I fly and I land and I got 100 messages. I’m like what, somebody got traded or something. And then it was about the Draymond stuff and I was like, ‘I never even gave that a second thought,’ but I was really surprised how many people went after Draymond and defended me. I’m not sensitive at all because I say stuff about players. I hope they’re not sensitive because if I say it I believe it, that don’t mean I’m always right. So that didn’t even phase me whatsoever. I can take it as much as I can dish it out.” — 7/18/2026 Awful Announcing
This week, Barkley shared more details about that conversation on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take.” “What’s up motherf–ker?” Barkley recalled playfully saying to Jordan, who was playing golf with Coleman. The Bulls icon repeated the words back to him jokingly, and then the pair talked and made plans to play golf together in the future. “We were great friends, brothers for a long time, and both of us [were] being selfish and stupid,” Barkley added on the podcast. Barkley said that during the conversation, both expressed that they missed each other’s friendship. And while he said Jordan is currently out of the country, the pair plan to golf when he is back. — 7/17/2026 New York Post
ESPN Cleveland: “The only rightful farewell tour would be with the Cleveland Cavaliers,” - Charles Barkley on LeBron James. — 7/10/2026 x.com
Barkley joined Unfiltered with Ricky Bo and Bill Colarulo on Philadelphia’s 97.5 The Fanatic this week to discuss the NBA offseason. And while projecting where James should play next season, Barkley insisted he will never catch Michael Jordan or even Kobe Bryant in the GOAT debate. But it’s not mental toughness or ring chasing keeping James from garnering the GOAT title, Barkley believes it’s that he’s too nice. “The three best basketball players I’ve ever seen in order; Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James,” Barkley said. “And I’ll tell you guys the difference, nobody ever said Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant was a nice guy. Now, LeBron’s a nice guy. Michael and Kobe, they want to kill you at all costs. That’s what separates them. Everybody likes LeBron, he’s a nice man. He’s a great, great basketball player. But them other two guys, they were fanatics. They were dangerous.” — 7/9/2026 Awful Announcing
Charles Barkley on Bam Adebayo: I like him a lot as a person. I think he represents everything that's good about the game. There was clearly some things about that game I did not like: The fouling, just giving him the ball every single time... Ernie Johnson: He says if you want to blame somebody, blame Brian Keefe, the Wizards head coach. He said he shouldn't have waited till I had 70 to start throwing another guy at me. Barkley: Yeah, but like I say, Bam, great accomplishment. People going to have a debate, but I'm never going to say anything bad about Bam cuz I got love and respect for that guy. He represents everything good about the NBA. — 3/20/2026 YouTube
For the first time since 1989, the NBA will not be broadcast on TNT. And while that fact has been clear for some time now, Charles Barkley is still mad about it. Barkley, the star of TNT’s crown jewel, “Inside the NBA,” will still be a part of the league’s national television programming. But it will not, of course, be on TNT; instead, he, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal will occasionally appear on ESPN as part of a licensing deal in which “Inside” will be produced by TNT’s crew but broadcast on ESPN. — 7/28/2025 Clutch Points
The agreement, while helpful in partially justifying Barkley and Co.’s massive deals with Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT’s parent company), remains a point of great annoyance for the former NBA star. “TNT never came to us like grown folks and said, ‘Hey guys, we’re probably going to lose to NBA,’ which we could have understood,” Barkley said on the ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast. “But I thought they sucked. I told them they sucked. Because there’s a way you treat people. Because if they had came to us and said, ‘Hey, you know what? It’s a lot of money.’ Because, you know, we were paying 1.2 billion dollars a year and it went to 2.5 billion. That’s a lot of money for 11 years. If they had said ‘it’s not a good deal,’ we would have understood. But to let us hear about it — and I’ll tell you something really s—-y about it, too: I found out that we got traded to ESPN from ESPN.” — 7/28/2025 Clutch Points
What has Carlisle done for you, and what have you done for Carlisle? Lloyd Pierce: Well, I think Rick believes in me. I think he believes in all of our staff. He’s allowed all of us to coach our specific areas and really have a strong presence and voice. We did an exercise a few years ago where we took a word and used it to describe ourselves. He said, ‘I think I’m very resourceful.’ And for me to see him operate as a very resourceful person has been very beneficial. Whether it’s reaching out to [the media], reaching out to an agent with regards to one of our players and trying to help echo the same messaging, or like he did the other day, taking the grandest stage for the Indiana Pacers and making sure he gave a sincere thank you to Ernie Johnson and TNT in their final broadcast call. He’s very resourceful in what to say and how to say it, and when to say it and who to speak to in appropriate times. And our players understand that he’s always thinking ahead. He’s always thinking of advantages and that’s the job. The job isn’t the X’s and O’s. He lets us do a lot of that. But he is great about managing the situations, the moments, the players, the opportunity, and that’s how you earn trust and belief of everyone. — 6/4/2025 Andscape
Charles Barkley joined The Dan Patrick Show Monday morning and said he committed to doing two more years with TNT, and subsequently ESPN. But with Inside the NBA set to air on ESPN, TNT is building a show featuring Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal and Ernie Johnson that will air on their network. And according to Barkley, it’s not going well. — 6/2/2025 Awful Announcing
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Charles Barkley says next season could 'Inside the NBA's' last unless Ernie Johnson changes his mind
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