Charles Barkley turned down NBC contract offer, still unsure about TNT/ESPN future

Charles Barkley hasn’t fully committed to a future at Turner Sports, but the beloved NBA analyst says he won’t be working at NBC or Amazon.

Less than two months ago, Barkley claimed he was listening to offers from NBC and Amazon despite being under contract with Warner Bros. Discovery to continue working at Turner Sports, which reached an agreement to license Inside the NBA to ESPN next season.

But on the latest episode of The Steam Room with co-host Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley said he rejected those offers, although he still seemed unsure about his future with Turner Sports and ESPN.

“I want to talk about my future, because there’s been a lot of stuff going on here about my future and I want to make everything perfectly clear,” Barkley said. “I’m informing NBC that I will not accept their offer. I’m going to cancel my future meetings with Amazon. I want to thank NBC, especially Mark Lazarus and Greg Hughes for offering me a contract…but my heart has always and will be at Turner Sports.

“And the only thing I’m waiting on right now between TNT and ESPN, I met with ESPN, those guys were amazing…I’m hoping that this thing comes together and I can stay at TNT and ESPN. But like I said, it’s all gonna be dictated by my workload. I’m not gonna work more as I get older. I’m gonna sit down with ESPN and TNT more cause I just need to know, if I’m gonna continue working…how much I’m gonna work.”

There’s been a lot of stuff going on about Charles Barkley’s future because he keeps talking about it. It’s not like there are outside reports or rumors swirling around his future. In the last eight months alone, Barkley has announced his retirement, reaffirmed his allegiance to Turner, stated he’s listening to offers from NBC and Amazon, and vowed to keep the NBA on TNT crew together. So yes, there’s been a lot of stuff going on about Barkley’s future, but it’s all coming from him.

Barkley added that his “workload” with ESPN will be the deciding factor. But if Barkley tells Turner and ESPN that he doesn’t want an increased workload and rejects doing weekly hits with First Take or Get Up, does anyone really believe they would just tell him to take a walk? Keep in mind, Barkley joined Mike Greenberg on Get Up Monday morning by his own will.

Whatever Turner and ESPN ultimately tells Charles Barkley about his workload, the basketball Hall of Famer said he will call a meeting of the minds with Mike Wilbon, Tony Kornheiser, Bryant Gumbel, Ahmad Rashad to discuss his future. Chances are Barkley isn’t done talking about his future. But signs are certainly pointing to him remaining part of Inside the NBA, even through its licensing agreement with ESPN.