ESPN NHL Team Joke Charles Barkley Is Joining Network’s NBA Coverage — And Fans Say ‘Maybe Then I’d Watch’

CHARLES Barkley joined the ESPN NHL analyst table during the Stanley Cup Final – and his future in broadcasting became the topic of conversation.

Barkley was a guest during ESPN on ABC’s coverage of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers on Monday night.

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Barkley, 61 years old future remains a mystery due to the possibility of TNT losing its NBA rights.

He is a star of the popular TNT show Inside the NBA.

While Barkley was on ESPN’s coverage of the NHL, championship series, host Steve Levy gave the NBA icon a surprising introduction.

“Steve Levy, Mark Messier, PK Subban and the Newest Member of ESPN’s NBA Coverage?”. Levy asked as she looked at Barkley.

NBA Hall of Famer Barkley did not address the matter, but mentioned that Messier owes him $5,000 due to a delay of game penalty he suffered during his NHL days.

Still, fans of X, formerly known as Twitterwere intrigued by the possibility of Barkley coming to ESPN, which received criticism and negative comments for its coverage of the NBA Finals.

“ESPN is so bad they need him,” commented one.

“Well, maybe then I would. ESPN’s ‘studio’ coverage is just bad, bad, bad!” another stated.

“Chuck on would be a significant improvement over the shit show they put on now,” posted a third.

Later in the segment, the broadcasters returned to Barkley’s future job.

Barkley joked that he would like to have a job in the future and that he is looking for a role in Linkedin.

The 2024-25 season will be Barkley’s final season with TNT if it is outbid for NBA broadcast rights.

However, recent reports revealed that TNT is negotiating the NBA’s smaller “D” package, even though the network lost the “B” package.

The smaller package would keep NBA games and Inside the NBA on the network.

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If Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT lose the rights to the NBA, the networks ESPN and NBC, as well as the company Amazon, will be Barkley’s suitors.

But Barkley recently threw cold water on the idea of ​​joining ESPN.

“They’re not going to work me like a dog,” Barkley said during an appearance on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast with host Jimmy Traina.

“ESPN Radio, ESPN2, ESPN Sports. I mean, NO! As much as I love ESPN, I just turned 61.

“The notion that I’m going to work like a dog until I’m 60 is definitely not going to happen.”