Shaquille O’Neal vowed a “new beginning” is coming for “Inside the NBA” as the iconic show winds down its time on TNT.
The show will no longer air on TNT once the Eastern Conference Finals ends, but will transition to ESPN beginning with the 2025-26 season. TNT will still produce the show with O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Ernie Johnson going forward.
“There’s an old saying, when something passes away, something is reborn,” O’Neal said. “And yes, it is the ending of the ‘Inside the NBA’ on TNT, but it’s the 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 to let you know right now.
“I know everybody sad that, ‘Oh, we ain’t gonna be the show.’ The show is still here, baby. You can never kill the ‘Four Horsemen’ and are we coming to take spots. We are coming to kick ass and we’re coming to take names and we’re doing it our way.”
After the Knicks beat the Pacers, 111-94, to force a Game 6 Saturday night in Indianapolis, the “Inside the NBA” crew had Knicks big man and New Jersey native Karl-Anthony Towns on its set.
The guys reprimanded Towns on a night when he accumulated five fouls but had 24 points and 13 rebounds and helped carry the offense along with Jalen Brunson’s 32 points.
“Why you been getting them dumb fouls?” Barkley asked Towns. “Why do you do that?”
“God only knows,” said Towns, who played after being listed as questionable with a knee injury. “I gotta do a much better job on that….I can’t, I can’t, You ain’t wrong. That hurts our team.”
Asked in his post-game on-court interview what the challenge was for Game 6, Towns said, “Force a Game 7, that’s the challenge.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter and Basketball Insider for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.
