ESPN will air television’s most popular NBA pre- and postgame show, Inside the NBA, beginning next season via a licensing deal with TNT. With TNT losing NBA rights, which now lay with Amazon and NBC as well as existing partner ESPN, the licensing agreement was seen as a solution to keep Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal together on a network that broadcasts the NBA.
Of course, ESPN already has a competing show, the often derided NBA Countdown which has struggled in comparison for years and various iterations. The addition of Inside the NBA doesn’t mean the end of Countdown, however. While the arrangement continues to evolve, according to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, both shows will exist in 2025–26, with Inside the NBA being utilized for prime events:
Inside the NBA will lead ESPN’s pregame and halftime programming. The show will air live during ABC/ESPN’s biggest events, including the NBA Finals, conference finals, and NBA playoffs. They’ll also be featured on opening week, Christmas Day, all ABC games after Jan. 1, and the final week of the season.
In addition, the report addresses another one of the core concerns around ESPN’s stewardship of Inside the NBA: the show’s length. TNT allows Barkley & Co. to debate and joke well into the night after its games, while ESPN’s tight windows help make NBA Countdown choppy and disjointed. The hands-off approach is compared to the one that ESPN has taken with The Pat McAfee Show. According to McCarthy, ESPN plans to let the show run late, is it does now. It may not be as seamless, as games on ABC are likely to shift postgame coverage to ESPN, and midweek games could run into the popular Scott Van Pelt-led late night SportsCenter, though flexibility is going to be key for this entire arrangement.
The issues don’t end there. Barkley told Dan Patrick Monday that TNT is still planning to air its own, highlight-less edition of Inside the NBA in some form, but that the pilot for that version of the show was “the stupidest s— ever.” Barkley also says he plans to retire after two years of the seven he has left on his contract, which would be a blow to ESPN, though Barkley has a long, long history of promising to retire and he remains on the air.
