Thank God ESPN is Saving Inside the NBA
ICYMI over the weekend, Inside the NBA will be continuing after this season even though TNT no longer has NBA rights. Chuck, Kenny, Shaq, and EJ will be on ESPN now, which makes this video now 100x funnier:
The Inside the NBA crew talking about what it’d be like if the show was on ESPN was hilarious
but now it’s more funny than I ever could’ve imagined pic.twitter.com/kEvOtHvEuW
— Kris Pursiainen (@krispursiainen) November 17, 2024
This is the Inside the NBA that I love. Just a couple guys shooting the shit in your living room telling you how they really feel. This is much better than Shaq and Chuck trying to give NBA analysis. I’m hoping ESPN just keeps it this way and doesn’t try to shoehorn in their own personalities like Stephen A. Smith. Let it be. The reason these guys are good is because they’re three former NBA players who can go off the rails any second and Ernie Johnson doing his best to keep the show on track. NBA Countdown stinks. It’s basically become a halftime show for ESPN to cram as much ad deals as they can. It’s like 30 seconds of actual basketball analysis and a commercial. It just doesn’t work. They look bored with it.
Here’s the schedule for the Inside the NBA crew:
ESPN and TNT Sports officially announce ‘Inside the NBA’ deal, which will start with the 2025-2026 season 🙌
The studio team of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaq will be part of:
– Opening Week
– Christmas Day
– ABC games (after January 1)
– Playoffs,… pic.twitter.com/xpaKT53zPo— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 18, 2024
Those guys on Christmas Day is the only chance the NBA has to compete with the NFL anymore. Especially if Netflix is going to continue to be the live sports programmer. I mean they panicked so much after the Jake Paul/Mike Tyson fight they threw the bag at Beyonce:
HOUSTON, TEXAS – 12.25.24 pic.twitter.com/8LHN2uvwma
— BEYONCÉ (@Beyonce) November 18, 2024
Don’t they know that the Beyhive will make January 6th look like a Girl Scout meeting if Netflix buffers one time during the halftime show?
The deal also includes the Inside the NBA production team, according to Andrew Marchand at The Athletic (with ads). Having the same team you’ve been with for years continuing to produce is an underrated big time part of this deal.
Pray for those big ‘ol women in San Antonio and those people of Galveston, TX: