NOTHING should break up the NBA on TNT crew

Discussing the potential end to the NBA on TNT/Inside the NBA crew amid NBA rights conversations

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I want to get back to the issue of some sports business news because the Sports Business Journal is reporting that the NBA is expected to finalize New Media deals with Amazon Disney and NBC the agreement will pay the league about 76 billion do over the next 11 years that’s three times the amount of the current deal the deal also means that the 2024-25 NBA season will be the last for TNT’s Emmy award-winning broadcast Inside the NBA hosted by the great the incomparable the one and only Ernie Johnson and of course my brothers Charles Barkley Shaquille O’Neal and queens is in the building always my brother Kenny Smith from Queens New York courtesy of Archbishop Malloy High School um in any business that you aspire to be great at you want to be competitive I do NBA Countdown for ESPN and ABC I’ve been on there the last two years or so years ago when I was doing it like 2006 2007 we were top rated show we get our ratings now too let me shock y’all with something y’all might not realize I’ve never considered Inside the NBA our competition first of all they’re phenomenal and they’re the standard but secondly our networks are different ESPN is a sports news network TNT in this show Straight Up Entertainment when you don’t see us on the air you see Sports Center when you don’t see them on the air you see Law and Order and more importantly we don’t come on in the same days they usually come on the Tuesday or th and Thursdays we came on Wednesday and Fridays and we got the Saturday nights on ABC or Sunday game on ABC or something like that and that’s it but make no mistake they’re the standard and to see the phenomenal work that they’ve done over the years how they’ve entertained the NBA world all I’m going to say is this I don’t know everything in life but I know television and I know that I don’t give a damn what network you are if you have’t opportunity to have Charles Barkley Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith together you do not break that up I don’t give a what anybody says you keep that together you don’t mess with it at all ever they gonna have Sunday night basketball let them be your Sunday night basketball bring all three of them with you now I say three instead of the four because Ernie Johnson’s a lifer he’s been at TNT and TBS and all of that for years basketball is not the only thing he does he’s a staple and a fixture at that particular Network he is phenomenal he is a Hall of Famer he is a multi-time Emmy Award winner he is the standard and by the way I got news for you whatever you think about him as a host it’s nothing compared to who he is as a man he is one of the most phenomenal human beings you’ll ever meet in your life a kind genuine gentle soul who is beloved in this industry so I am in no way suggesting that it should just be those three and not Ernie I’m just saying everybody is saying they can never see Ernie leaving he’ll probably retire but of course if you can keep all four you can keep all four but if you can keep just the three you keep the three it should be Ernie’s call he’s earned it and for those of us in the business who know about the work and know the intimate details that come along with it we not only respect this man we Revere him we love him and we hope the whole TNT team stays together no matter who it’s for them NBC or whomever because I’m not going to lie to you I’ve been covering the NBA for 30 years not seeing those Brothers together it wouldn’t be the same I know Charles Barkley keeps hitting about retiring man you’re always bragging about how you got the easiest job in the world cuz you don’t really work what the hell you think about retiring for if you ain’t working and getting paid get paid and do the work that you’re doing while calling it not working stay your ass on TV just like Anthony Edwards Antman told you bring your ass to Minnesota stay your ass on TV don’t go nowhere Shaq we know we ain’t worried about you you you every damn commercial anyway you might as well be on TV you know saying so so so we we we could be reminded as to why you got all those damn commercials and Kenny Smith is a basketball Savant Queens in the building baby I learn from him every day that’s my brother love him love y’all congratulations on your Emmy it’s well deserved I wish y’all nothing but the best I’ve never gotten any I mean I’ve been number one for 12 years on first take in the morning and I don’t know how you number one in the mornings on Sports television you never got any in your life you know I don’t understand that part but I know one thing that’s not debatable it’s the emies y’all got cuz y’all deserve it major major props and love to all of y’all I hope y’all stay together forever I really really mean that