What to know about Charles Barkley, who’s retiring from TV: the former NBA star is well known for Inside the NBA and King Charles, his talk show with Gayle King – but what did he say about Donald Trump?
- Before he retired from basketball, Barkley played for the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets; he’s since hosted the TNT show with Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith
- Barkley has said he would ‘punch’ Black people wearing a shirt with Trump’s mugshot, and he’s been frank about his gambling addiction; his CNN limited series with Gayle King has also ended
The NBA has been negotiating its next broadcast rights deals, with Disney (ESPN), NBC, Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT) reportedly in competition. New deals will begin in the 2025-26 season, and Barkley – a multiple Sports Emmy-award winner – said he isn’t interested in moving to other networks. He began with TNT in 2000, the year he retired following 16 seasons in the NBA.
“I ain’t going nowhere other than TNT,” Barkley said on NBA TV. “But I have made the decision that, no matter what happens, next year is going to be my last year on television. And I just want to say thank you to my NBA family. You guys have been great to me. My heart is full with joy and gratitude.”
The changes are likely to affect Barkley’s wealth; he has openly spoken about his gambling addiction. We break down his career changes and why basketball fans are concerned.
What’s going to happen to Inside the NBA?
It has been widely reported that the NBA is about to close an 11-year deal with NBC. The network TNT currently produces the long-standing show Inside the NBA. The network move would mean Barkley – who is a host on the show, along with Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith – would be left without work.
Per the LA Times, Barkley made a glib comment about updating his LinkedIn profile in preparation for a job search. But he’s not all jokes: in May, in an interview with The New York Times, he spoke about how the lack of clarity around the TV deals seemed to be unfairly impacting other employees’ lives: “It’s people’s lives. Not my life. Not Ernie’s life. Not Kenny’s life. Not Shaq’s life. But all the people who work here. We probably have 100 people who do work on the show. So they’re, like, real people.”