Charles Barkley’s surprise retirement announcement has been met with much skepticism, and Reggie Miller doesn’t want to believe it.
Out of left field, Barkley declared that the upcoming season will be his final one as an NBA analyst for TNT Sports, regardless of the fate of Inside the NBA. This announcement comes as Warner Bros. Discovery seems likely to lose the rights to broadcast NBA games, potentially ending TNT’s long-standing partnership with the league. Even though TNT still has one year left on their current deal, Barkley said it’ll be his last year on television regardless.
Miller echoed that prevailing sentiment during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on Monday.
“First of all, let me say this: this could be retirement for all of us at Turner Network next year,” the NBA on TNT analyst said.
When Patrick asked Miller if he knew what was going to happen, Miller revealed that he was among those who were in the dark, pulling the “This is way above my pay grade” line from his back pocket.
“I’m hoping; I think our leadership is at the table from everything I’m hearing — again, which isn’t a lot — and I hope they’re trying to pull out a win here with two minutes left in the fourth here,” said Miller. “It would be nice. I think Charles is getting ahead of the story because his name is being thrown out there with NBC, Amazon, and the possibilities. I think he just wanted to set the record straight.
“And good for him. He’s always done things on his own terms. You and I know Charles very well, and he’s not going to let other people dictate what he wants to do. And I think he wanted to get ahead of the story and announce this. If this is his last year, we’ve had conversations, I’m like, ‘Look, dude, we’re gonna go out with a bang.’ So, whatever happens at our network, whether we get a piece of the pie and we’re one of the four horsemen or not. If this is our lame duck year and my last year at Turner, we’re going to have fun and go out with a bang.”
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.