Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals not only marked an end to the New York Knicks' season with the Indiana Pacers securing a spot in the NBA Finals via a 125-108 win. It also marked the end of the NBA on TNT era.
TNT has broadcast NBA games for over 30 years, with the network first broadcasting professional basketball games in 1989. But the NBA negotiated a new media rights deal that will kick in starting with the 2025-26 season, and TNT is not included. Instead the NBA will be shown on ESPN, ABC, NBC, and Amazon Prime; the TNT age has come to a close.
The significance of the moment was not lost during the ECF with numerous emotional sign-offs taking place as TNT broadcast its final game. However, many fans learning of the big change may be worried about the future of Inside The NBA, the most popular sports studio show in the country featuring Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson. If TNT isn't showing NBA games anymore, what will happen to The Fellas?
Here we'll break down exactly what TNT losing NBA broadcast rights means for Inside The NBA going forward.
To put it simply: no. Inside The NBA will not end now that TNT no longer has broadcast rights for the NBA. Pacers-Knicks Game 6 was not the final time Shaq, Chuck, Ernie, and The Jet will grace your television screen. It was the last time they'll do so on a TNT broadcast, to be clear.
You will see Inside The NBA covering the 2025-26 season. It'll just be a little different.
Inside The NBAis moving to ESPN.
Beginning with opening night of the 2025-26 season, Inside The NBA will be broadcast on ESPN. But it is not being produced by ESPN. Instead, the four-letter network is licensing the rights to broadcast the show, while TNT will continue to produce it in-house in the network's famed Atlanta studios (with on-location sets serving as an exception). All the good-byes that happened at the end of the Eastern Conference finals were send-offs for the TNT era, but not for the studio show.
From the sounds of it, the show will not change all that much.
ESPN licensing the show while TNT produces means ESPN will likely not change the format or the cast of the program. President of content Burke Magnus said outright in November they do not want to change the show, and chairman of the network Jimmy Pitaro effectively confirmed as much in May. The deal to broadcast Inside The NBA is more like ESPN's deal to broadcast the Pat McAfee Show, which does not include any editorial power from the network. Instead, ESPN's side of the deal is to merely give the show a platform.
The biggest change coming will be the schedule of when Inside The NBA is broadcast. They had a consistent rotation for many years at TNT, broadcasting during multiple nights of the week throughout the year and into the playoffs. ESPN's official announcement on licensing the show gave a broad sketch of when Inside The NBA will be on.
"The show, which has won 21 Sports Emmy Awards, will appear on ESPN and ABC surrounding high-profile live events, including ESPN's pregame, halftime and postgame coverage of the NBA Finals on ABC, conference finals, NBA playoffs, all ABC games after Jan. 1, Christmas Day, opening week, the final week of the season and other marquee live events," the statement read.
The Inside The NBA era on TNT has come to a close. But it's not the end of the show. The gang will be back in October, as they always are, to help kick off the new NBA season.
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