Over the weekend, Inside the NBA signed off from TNT for the final time.
After Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith concluded their final broadcast as this exact iteration of Inside, as TNT will not hold NBA rights starting next year.
While the show will be back—ESPN is licensing it from TNT starting next year, with the same hosts and support staff running things—media and fans alike were unsure how the show’s pivot to the Worldwide Leader would change things.
According to a report from Michael McCarthy at Front Office Sports, the plan is very much for ESPN to stay away from interfering with what already works so well.
“I’m hearing from sources that ESPN has zero plans to change the iconic show’s DNA,” McCarthy wrote in his Monday report. “TNT will retain full editorial control. So expect to see the same funny, bombastic, basketball show that’s earned 21 Sports Emmy Awards during its historic run.”
Worries about ESPN changing the show were and still are understandable. Much of the charm and most of the show’s most iconic moments come from the crew towing a thin line as to what counts as sports commentary, and the idea of Barkley getting an open mic on a Disney property might have seemed like a long shot just a few years ago.
But given the moves that ESPN has made recently, the network rolling with Inside the NBA as it is feels more possible. Per McCarthy, the network plans to take the same hands-off approach they have with Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith in recent years.
As once source told McCarthy, “Some of the speculation’s just nuts. ESPN has wanted Barkley and this show for 20 years. Now that they’ve got it, why would they change it?”
When Inside makes its debut on ESPN this fall, it will undoubtedly feel different in some regard, but if all goes according to plan, the bones and soul of the show will remain intact.
Bad news for Galveston, Tx., but good news for the rest of us.
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