Charles Barkley might not want to work for NBC or Amazon, but not as much as Turner Sports doesn’t want him working there.
Barkley recently admitted he rejected an offer from NBC and canceled meetings with Amazon, although he won’t fully commit to Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT Sports until they provide more clarity on what his schedule with ESPN will be. As Warner Bros. Discovery braces to lose NBA game rights, they reached an agreement for ESPN to license Inside the NBA beginning next season. But before Barkley reached his own decision on rejecting any official or potential offers from NBC and Amazon, he claims TNT Sports sent both platforms a cease-and-desist letter.
Tuesday morning, Charles Barkley joined The Dan Patrick Show. And on the heels of Barkley saying he won’t be going to NBC or Amazon, Patrick attempted to clarify whether that means he’s staying at TNT.
“I could always have stayed at TNT,” Barkley said. “But I put in my contract I could get out of there if they lost the NBA. You know, it’s really funny, the TNT people, they’re stupid. They wrote a cease and desist letter to Amazon and NBC and it really pissed me off. They’re trying to say that they traded my show to ESPN and that’s the same as them keeping it. I’m like, I don’t think that’s the way it works.
“We were having some heated discussions behind the scenes down in Atlanta. They sent a cease and desist letter to NBC and Amazon saying I wasn’t available. I was like, that’s not the way my contract reads. Y’all lost the NBA, if I wanted to leave, I could leave. That’s the bone of contention. They’re like, ‘No, you’re under contract.’ I said, ‘I’ll take my chances in court and I feel really good about my chances in court. Because regardless of what they say, Dan, them trading us to ESPN ain’t the same as us being under contract to TNT.”
Charles Barkley spent the entire summer saying how upset he was for the behind-the-scenes crew at Inside the NBA as Warner Bros. Discovery gets set to lose game rights for TNT, while adding he has no desire to start over with a new network and set of bosses. The company figured out a way to keep the show intact by licensing it to ESPN, yet Barkley has seemingly resisted the move.
Sure, being traded to ESPN ain’t the same as being under contract to TNT. But by all accounts, Charles Barkley will still be under contract at TNT Sports. Inside the NBA will still be produced TNT Sports. It will still originate from Atlanta and TNT Sports will still maintain editorial control. Maybe Barkley is just trying to find any opening he can to get leverage more money. And if that is the case, go for it. But for someone who acts like he just wants some clarity on his future, he’s also the one who keeps putting his media career on this rollercoaster ride of uncertainty.
