Rivals In the Hunt For TNT Talent

TNT Sports has lost the battle to retain NBA media rights, and now rival networks are looking to swoop in and steal their personalities.

With the NBA parting ways with TNT Sports, Inside the NBA will also come to an end after the 2024-25 season, leaving the cast with no work. reports The Sun.

Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith can all seek new opportunities after the final NBA season on TNT Sports, and one network already is looking to scoop them up.

ESPN is reportedly showing interest in reuniting the cast of Inside the NBA on their network as they were able to retain basketball rights.

Charles Barkley alone could command a $20 million per year salary from any of the three networks that secured NBA rights, ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video, according to Front Office Sports.

"The Chuckster could command $20 million-plus offers from the NBA’s new trio of rights partners," wrote FOS.

"ESPN is already eying Barkley and the entire cast of Inside the NBA, say my sources. Ditto for Prime."

Prime Video is also making a hard push to recruit the cast of Inside the NBA.

Head of sports for Prime Video, Jay Marine, spoke highly of the Inside the NBA team and told Front Office Sports how much he respects them.

Prime even modeled their programming for Thursday Night Football around Inside the NBA.

"Inside the NBA, in our opinion, is the gold standard for studio programming," Marine told Front Office Sports.

"I’m a huge fan. We’re all big fans. It is so entertaining. Those guys are hilarious. The chemistry is off the charts.

"We’ll have to see how all this plays out. We just signed the deal. They’ll have no shortage of options depending on what they want to do.”

Charles Barkley:

"Listen, I wish I had a job next year. I'm on LinkedIn. I put on my resume, they are like 'You never had a real job'. I said that's not my fault." 😂😂😂

(via @awfulannouncing)

pic.twitter.com/oL53QQIEcY

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) June 11, 2024

After hearing that Inside the NBA could be saved on another network, NBA fans begged ESPN to pull the trigger and sign the cast to a deal.

"NBA fans all need this to happen," one fan said.