Chris Mannix: ‘This does not have to be the end of Inside the NBA’
"Call me an optimist, but I'm a believer that we're gonna get Inside the NBA on Amazon Prime."
"Call me an optimist, but I'm a believer that we're gonna get Inside the NBA on Amazon Prime."
"Charles is wonderful, so is Shaq. They're thinking bigger picture of, 'how can I get more people in bigger places to see our product?'"
"It started years ago when they alluded to how unimportant the NBA was to the brand itself."
"We view it as the gold standard studio program."
"We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do, and do not believe the NBA can reject it."
In many ways, this saga is just getting started.
"If you look at the (bleeping) camera, I’ll wring your neck."
"To pack up and move to another network after 25 years, I don’t think I have that in me."
"I hope that they can match. But this sounds way above my pay grade on a lot of forms."
"I can't imagine a world in which I don't see you on a regular basis talking hoops."
"I wouldn’t feel comfortable going to work for another network."
"All these networks are going to lose money on the NBA. But for TNT, they don't have me for anything other than (the NBA). And if they don't sign it, they lose me completely."
Barkley's off-the-cuff announcement may have created even more tension heading into what is likely the final season of 'Inside the NBA.'
"I’m not saying he’s lying. I’m saying, don’t believe he’s gone for good. Don’t believe it."
"First of all, let me say this: this could be retirement for all of us at Turner Network next year."
"Charles says a lot of things, and there are times when I go, ‘I don’t believe that you believe that.’ This once felt like, maybe that is true."
"We're looking forward to another fantastic NBA on TNT season and further discussion of our future plans with him."
"Nobody, in any sport, has been better in the studio than Barkley."
"Listen, I wish I had a job next year."
"At the end of the day, there’s only gonna be so many television packages, Finals games, playoff games, regular season games to distribute."
"I'm glad I have different options to fall back on, but when I go left, it just starts to get sad."