Turner Has Resigned Inside The NBA Team To Long-Term Deals

[Big Boss]

The best studio show in sports television history will stay intact for the next couple of years.

At its upfront event today at Madison Square Garden, Turner Sports will announce that Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith—the quartet that makes up TNT’s Inside the NBA—have signed multi-year extensions with the company.

The news is particularly significant given Barkley has told Sports Illustrated repeatedly over the years that he thought it would be a struggle to complete his current contract when it expired in 2016. Now NBA fans will see him long past that date. Turner would not release information about the lengths of the extensions, but it’s likely in the 4-5 year range for most.


O’Neal joined the studio show in 2011 following a 19-year NBA career and his first few years on Inside the NBA were, to be generous, a work in progress. But O’Neal has improved yearly, and one of his best qualities is his ability to make fun of himself. Turner Sports executives like the chemistry he’s developed with the longtime trio of Barkley (16th year as an analyst), Johnson (26thyear as an NBA host on TNT) and Smith (18th year as a studio analyst for TNT) and committed to him with this extension


But Barkley is the show’s star, and one thing the 52-year-old has made clear is that he’s not working past 60. "Anyone who works past 60 is an idiot (laughs),” Barkley said to SI.com last month. “I want to travel the world. Listen, man, if people want to keep working that’s fine. But there is going to come an age when you can’t do stuff and have fun. So why would I want to keep working until the day I die? You should save your money. Learn to tell your family and friends no. One of the great travesties in sports is 70% of professional athletes go broke. It’s a joke and it pisses me off. But I tell all my friends who don’t play sports, 'Who wants to work when you are 65 or 70?' Sixty is my magic number. I just turned 52 and I’m not working past 60.”


Turner said Inside the NBA is frequently the second most-watched program on cable throughout the NBA playoffs, trailing only live game coverage.




http://www.si.com/nba/2015/05/13/in...-neal-ernie-johnson-kenny-smith-extension-tnt

 

[Brozay]

show has gone down hill drastically the past few years, I was hoping for something different

 

[AVXL]

The GOAT sports analysis crew together for another 4-5 years each

 

[Big Boss]

The GOAT sports analysis crew together for another 4-5 years each

 

[dh86]

Shaq brought that show down something serious

 

[Versa]

Lost my taste for it when I found out deep Charles's devotion to c00nery really went. That + Shaq kinda sucking lol.

 

[bl2k8]

show has gone down hill drastically the past few years, I was hoping for something different

No it hasn't, Shaq can be akward at times and sensitive but it's still very good. They'll win Emmys every year until they decide to hang it up

 

[MikelArteta]

Need to hire ai and Kobe

 

[MJ Truth]

show has gone down hill drastically the past few years, I was hoping for something different

Maybe, but what's the replacement that is going to actually be BETTER than this? Because as far as mainstream sports television goes, the only thing that's even in its realm of entertainment value/level is Highly Questionable.

 

[MAGNETO.]

Chemistry is much better with C Webb than Shaq as the 4th member.

 

[Bernie Madoff]

Never understood all the shaq hate

 

[Brozay]

No it hasn't, Shaq can be akward at times and sensitive but it's still very good. They'll win Emmys every year until they decide to hang it up

yes it clearly has

im guessing you didnt watch it much in its prime then

the analysis is laughable now, and the comedy isnt as sharp as it once was

 

[god shamgod]

"Don't make me come over there and hit in you in the head with this chair.There's gonna be some furniture moving if you keep talking" - Chuck

"4 rings.I got 4 rings doing it that way" "I uhhh I agree with chuck they have to rebound and box out" - Shaq

"I think that they play like a team that's comfortable like they are alice in brady bunch.But they want to be like tony micelli in who's the boss" - kenny

Talks all through highlights while ernie tries to stay on track

Shaq steps in trash can and falls

That show sucks now

 

[inndaskKy]

O’Neal joined the studio show in 2011 following a 19-year NBA career and his first few years on Inside the NBA were, to be generous, a work in progress. But O’Neal has improved yearly, and one of his best qualities is his ability to make fun of himself. Turner Sports executives like the chemistry he’s developed with the longtime trio of Barkley (16th year as an analyst), Johnson (26thyear as an NBA host on TNT) and Smith (18th year as a studio analyst for TNT) and committed to him with this extension

http://www.si.com/nba/2015/05/13/in...-neal-ernie-johnson-kenny-smith-extension-tnt

@Walt alert.

 

[SpursFanSinceNovember2017]

Shaq ruined the show