Former Turner president details negotiations that kept Charles Barkley and Shaq at TNT

NBA fans can finally breathe easy knowing that Inside the NBA will return next season, despite TNT losing rights to air the games.

But that doesn’t mean it has always been a breeze to keep the Inside gang together throughout the years. As has been well documented, star analyst Charles Barkley has some sort of retirement fetish dating back to his playing days. And his partner-in-crime Shaquille O’Neal considered choosing ESPN instead of TNT shortly after his retirement from the NBA.

Knowing that Inside‘s future is safe after the licensing agreement ESPN and TNT Sports reached earlier this month, hearing anecdotes about TNT’s past efforts to keep their big personalities fat and happy can be equal parts humorous and insightful.

On John Ourand’s The Varsity podcast, former Turner Network president David Levy shared some details about how the network was able to retain Barkley throughout the years and keep Shaq away from the Worldwide Leader.

“I could tell you stories of how many times Chuck retired on us and how many times I had to fly down to his house,” Levy began.

“That’s not just in the media that he retires, he actually retires to you too?” Ourand questioned, referencing the many times that Barkley’s retirement saga has played out in the press.

“Oh yeah, three times,” Levy replied.

“Hang on David. He literally made you fly down to his house to keep him?” Ourand asked.

“Well, not just me. I took a great team with me, about five people. And after we had a lot of bottles of tequila and a few glasses of wine he shook our hand and said, ‘I’m staying for another ten years.'”

That ten-year deal was struck back in 2022 following a highly public dalliance with LIV Golf.  But the idea that Levy had to go through that song and dance with Barkley three separate times is very on-brand. Thankfully, Turner realized the importance of keeping The Chuckster on television and never relented.

Levy’s team seemed to have put an equally hard sell on Shaq during a meeting with the big man in Los Angeles while he weighed options for his second act.

“I remember my opening line to Shaq was something of, ‘There are people that want you and there are people that need you. We don’t need you.’ And I paused and he looked at me like, ‘What?’ And I said, ‘But we want you.’ And I said, ‘And there’s a big difference,'” Levy explained.

That’s a bold opening line — one that likely alludes to the manner in which ESPN (who “needed” Shaq by Levy’s estimation) may have deployed him differently than Turner. The strategy paid off.

“He was impressed and in fact, I don’t want to say this out loud, but ultimately he shook my hand even before the ESPN meeting and said, ‘I’m coming with you guys,'” Levy said.

While nothing Levy explained is inherently groundbreaking information, the stories he told goes to show how much of the television industry is based on relationships. In both cases with Barkley and Shaq, it seems the interpersonal aspect of negotiations helped push the deals over the finish line.

Of course, the millions of dollars Turner put on the table probably helped too.

[The Varsity]