Jalen Rose is making a return to ESPN.
On Friday, Rose will serve as a fill-in panelist on _Inside the NBA_ in place of Shaquille O’Neal, [according to Sports Media Watch’s Jon Lewis](https://x.com/paulsen_smw/status/2024185170849415344?s=20). The show will air on ESPN but is being produced by TNT.
Rose was laid off by ESPN on June 30, 2023 as part of a round of cost-cutting layoffs that affected around 20 high-profile on-air personalities. A mainstay at the network since 2007, Rose was a prominent NBA analyst for _NBA Countdown_ and formerly co-hosted _Jalen & Jacoby._
Rose, a member of Michigan’s famed “Fab Five” that reached back-to-back NCAA Tournament championship games in the early 1990s, has been serving as a Big 12 analyst for TNT while also analyzing Big Ten games for NBC and Peacock.
He [recently said on TNT](https://www.nj.com/sports/2026/02/could-projected-no-1-nba-picks-draft-stock-be-falling-yes-ex-star-says.html) that Kansas star Darryn Peterson will see his “draft stock” impacted by his litany of cramping issues.