Don’t expect Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley to be a couple of flunkies pandering to the NBA and its in-season tournament.
It’s no secret, the NBA is in the middle of a season-long break-up with TNT Sports, ending their 35-year partnership. And knowing it’s the final season of Inside the NBA gives Shaq and Barkley little incentive to promote things for the league that they don’t believe in. Like the in-season tournament, now known as the Emirates NBA Cup.
Tuesday night, Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson noted the Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons are the only two remaining winless teams in the league, prompting a discussion about when they might play against each other.
“We should rig the play-in tournament, everybody bet on the Jazz and the Pistons and let them play for the championship.” – Charles Barkley pic.twitter.com/XYin98m1z9
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 30, 2024
“They’re gonna play in Vegas for the Cup,” O’Neal said, garnering a hearty laugh from Johnson who added, “that was excellent.”
The implication here is that the in-season tournament is so meaningless it could see the NBA’s two worst teams playing for the Emirates Cup, which gave Barkley an idea.
“Shaq, that’s what we should do,” Barkley said. “We should rig the play-in tournament, everybody bet on the Jazz and the Pistons and let them play for the championship.”
If the Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons are somehow in Vegas playing for the Emirates Cup, the NBA just might shut the in-season tournament down before it’s even over. Johnson, however, noted the Emirates NBA Cup games will begin Tuesday Nov. 12. “Tuesdays and Fridays.”
“Wait, we gotta work on Fridays?” Barkley asked with surprise.
“No,” Johnson confirmed. “It will be on another network.”
“Oh. Well, hey, in fairness, our stuff is gonna be on another network too!” Barkley joked, referencing the fact that TNT’s NBA package will be on NBC and Amazon next season.
This season, basketball fans can expect TNT to air Emirates NBA Cup games on Tuesdays and ESPN to air a slate of games on Fridays before the semifinals tip off in Las Vegas Saturday, Dec. 14. This season, basketball fans can also expect Barkley to keep making jokes about the fact that this is the end of the NBA on TNT. Because what are they going to do, fire him?
