If you watched the NBA on TNT on Thursday, you may have noticed that the Inside the NBA crew of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal were in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. And you might be wondering why the TNT guys were in Vegas. What would be the connection to CES?
Well late last year, Turner announced that along with WME/IMG, it was forming an e-sports gaming league (ELEAGUE) to create content for TBS. Then in December, Turner said it would be at CES this year to unveil the league and to introduce gamers to some of the events that will eventually air on TBS later this year.
So with that in mind, now you know why Inside the NBA was at Vegas broadcasting live. It’s all about corporate synergy. And while Barkley, Smith and Shaq appeared to be bored with the whole thing, Ernie Johnson did his best to sell the ELEAGUE to the audience and the Inside the NBA panel. Kenny “The Jet” Smith said he felt it wasn’t sports while the Chuckster said he had never seen it. It was then EJ introduced the announcers who will call the events on TBS, including Duncan “Thorin” Shields.
After they showed highlights of one of their events, they tossed back to the Inside the NBA guys and in particular Shaquille O’Neal who tried to use the old “We’ll take you on in any sport” challenge and that’s where it went horribly wrong for Shaq.
#InsideTheNBA talks eSports. The commentary digressed quickly. (+ @Thooorin FTW) https://t.co/uLERnjDfXc
— ELEAGUE (@ELEAGUETV) January 8, 2016
Shaq did make an effort to hit back, but it just didn’t work. We look forward to another round of Insde the NBA vs. ELEAGUE very soon.
