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END OF ERA
Charles Barkley breaks silence on TNT NBA contract ending and accuses league of ‘wanting to break up with us’
TNT is not giving up on the NBA broadcasting rights yet, though
CHARLES Barkley has broken his silence on the seemingly inevitable end of Inside the NBA.
Following TNT's NBA rights deal fiasco, the iconic studio show is set to end after its next season.
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The NBA announced that NBC and Amazon Prime Video would join ESPN as broadcast partners as part of a landmark 11-year, $77 billion TV deal.
NBC snapped up TNT's game package to get the league back on its airwaves for the first time since 2002.
The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned network attempted to hijack Amazon's $1.8 billion deal, using its matching rights included in the current contract.
However, the NBA said Wednesday the proposal "did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video's offer."
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Two days later, Barkley claimed that the league "wanted to break up with us from the beginning" in a bitter reaction to the news.
"I'm not sure TNT ever had a chance," the Inside the NBA analyst wrote in a statement via Bleacher Report.
"TNT matched the money, but the league knows Amazon and these tech companies are the only ones willing to pay for the rights when they double in the future."
"The NBA didn't want to piss them off.
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"It's a sad day when owners and commissioners choose money over the fans. It just sucks."
Barkley, 61, also had a heartfelt message for his colleagues and TNT viewers.
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"I just want to thank everyone who has been at Turner for the last 24 years," the NBA icon said.
"They are the best people and the most talented and they deserve better.
"I also want to thank the NBA and its fans — the best fans in sports.
"We're going to give you everything we have next season."
Clearly the NBA has wanted to break up with us from the beginning. I'm not sure TNT ever had a chance
Charles Barkley
While Barkley appears to have made peace with his Inside the NBA crew's run coming to an end, TNT is seemingly not waving the white flag just yet.
WBD issued a strong statement after seeing its matching offer rejected, saying the league "grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond" while vowing to "take appropriate action."
The media giant also immediately began to weigh legal options in order to keep the NBA on TNT, The U.S. Sun has been told.
"They are making a huge mistake – and a legal mistake in our opinion," a TNT insider close to the negotiations with the NBA said.
The insider added, "We all think that the NBA is wrong and going to be involved in a huge legal battle as the terms of the previous contract were clear and gave us the opportunity to match."
At this time, it's unknown on what ground WBD could challenge the NBA's decision in court.
But the insider insisted that the league "got it wrong" by rejecting the company's matching offer.
"It’s going to be tough, but we will get ready for a legal battle to get our contract and its clauses respected," the source said.
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WBD is said to have filed a lawsuit against the NBA in New York County Supreme Court on Friday, per The Athletic's sports legal analyst Daniel Wallach.
Meanwhile, ESPN and Amazon are reportedly hoping to snap up the Inside the NBA cast if TNT ends up without NBA broadcasting rights after 2024-25.