An era of “Inside the NBA” has officially come to a close.
The popular basketball show ended its run on TNT after the Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Knicks and Pacers on Saturday.
The show, which has aired on TNT since 1989, will be shown on ESPN next season, as Warner Bros. Discovery lost the rights to broadcast NBA games.
Turner will still produce the show by licensing it to ESPN.
Warning: Graphic language
Before Thursday’s Game 5, Shaquille O’Neal went on a passionate rant about the show’s past on TNT and future on ESPN.
“There’s an old saying, when something passes away, something is reborn,” O’Neal said on the set before Game 5. “Yes, it is the end of “Inside the NBA” on TNT, but it’s a new beginning for us. I’m glad we’re still together on whatever network we go to.
“And whatever network we’re coming to, we’re bringing the pain. Just letting you know right now. OK, I know everybody’s sad that, ‘Oh, it ain’t gonna be the show.’ The show is still here, baby. You can never kill the four horsemen. We coming, and we coming to take spots. We coming to kick ass and we coming to take names. And we doing it our way,” he continued as his colleagues Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley cheered him on.
“You know, all the sadness about that show. We coming with a whole brand new show, and we don’t care who in our way. We coming to kick ass and take names. The name changes but the boys are here. We them boys.”
Things got emotional for the crew during their closing remarks Saturday, with all four of the commentators thanking TNT and looking forward to working for ESPN, along with some members throwing around expletives during the live broadcast.
“It’s been a great run, been an honor, Chuck love you like a brother I will still whoop your ass,” O’Neal said. “I’m glad were sticking together. Even if the network changes, the name stays the same.”
“To [ESPN] we are not f–king around,” O’Neal closed with, which was met with widespread applause from the Indiana crowd.
Smith echoed O’Neal’s statement, dropping the second f-bomb of the night.
“This has been a magnificent ride, and as Shaq said, we ain’t coming to f–k around,” Smith said.
Barkley took his time to thank everyone who has helped him at TNT over his 25 years with the network.
“Some people have had kids that I’ve seen go to prom, graduate college and now they have newborns,” Barkley said. “I’m so lucky and blessed, and I want to thank TNT for giving me a magnificent life.”
The remarks closed with Johnson fighting back tears while saying the final sign-off of “Inside the NBA” on TNT.
“I’m proud to say for the last time, thank you for watching us, this is the NBA on TNT,” Johnson said while dropping the mic.
On Tuesday, Johnson, the longtime host of the program, was asked on “The Dan Le Batard Show” about what the final broadcast might be like and if things were going to get emotional.
“After 35 years of this relationship, having it end, it does get emotional,” said Johnson, who has hosted the show since 1990. “We’re not going to be over the top, but we’re certainly going to have some folks to thank.
“I haven’t really thought about what I’m going to say that last night, and so it’s not like you want to prepare something. I think we’ll all have something to say, but I think we also realize that for the four of us, it would be really weird, Dan, if this were the end of us together, and it’s not going to be because the show’s going to continue, just on another network on an ABC/ESPN kind of combo. We’re gonna have the same folks we see running camera and producing the show, that’s gonna be the same. It’s just gonna run at a different place. But if this were the end of the four of us together, I would want this series to go 29 games.”
The show, known for its cast of characters and analysts over the years, has had mainstays in former NBA stars Barkley, O’Neal and Smith, all of whom have become arguably as memorable for their banter and shenanigans in the studio as their play on the court.
Barkley, not ever shy about sharing his opinions, previously told Outkick he was never going to “change my personality” and said no one at ESPN was going to tell them what to do.
And while he later said it was an “honor” to work at ESPN, he did tell his new home one thing this week about the face of the NBA debate.
“Hey, ESPN, I love you guys,” Barkley said. “Don’t try to make Anthony Edwards the face of the NBA. The face of the NBA is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Joker (Nikola Jokic), and Giannis (Antetokounmpo). You can’t give it to people, they have to take it. And Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has taken it.”
Barkley and the rest of the crew will now be part of the ESPN landscape and will likely shape more basketball debates.
