STEPHEN A. Smith viciously mocked TNT for losing his longtime NBA rights.
The First Take host used his eponymous podcast to criticize executives at parent company Warner Bros. Discovery for the way they handled the situation.
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The NBA announced this week that TNT “did not match” the terms of an offer made by streaming service Amazon.
This leaves the hugely popular studio show Inside the NBA on track to end after the 2024-25 season.
According to Stephen A., TNT had every opportunity to keep their NBA rights – and they blew it.
“TNT dropped the ball here,” Smith said on your podcast.
“I’m talking about the TNT bosses. It all started years ago, when they alluded to the importance of the NBA for the brand itself and the resistance they gave to reaching a new agreement.
“In fact, according to my sources, Adam Silver, the commissioner, spoke with the higher-ups at Warner Bros. Discovery before a deal was reached weeks ago.
“Basically letting them know, ‘Hey, you need to match, this is where we are.’
“And there was a lot of hesitation and hesitation.”
Stephen A. then declared that he would welcome ESPN by hiring the all-star quartet of Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal.
“Anyone who could get their hands on Barkley, Shaq, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson should do it, even if it was ESPN,” Smith added.
“These brothers are phenomenal. I root for them every day, all day, all the time.
“So hopefully, in some way, there will be a platform available for them — whether it’s ESPN/ABC, whether it’s Amazon, whether it’s NBC.”
Smith’s comments come as Front Office Sports reports that ESPN is trying to make an audacious bid to land the Inside the NBA team.
“Chuckster could receive offers of more than $20 million from the NBA’s new trio of rights partners,” he wrote FOS.
“ESPN already has its eye on Barkley and the entire Inside the NBA cast, my sources say. The same goes for Prime.”
Prime Video is also making a big effort to recruit the cast of Inside the NBA.
As for the future of TNT, Stephen A. is not optimistic about the TV channel following the loss of NBA rights.
What does the new TV deal mean for the NBA?
By US Sun Assistant Sports Editor Damian Burchardt.
The new television rights deal promises to be a big win for NBA players.
The league is expected to more than double revenue from its media partners, pocketing around $6.9 billion per year, which will inevitably lead to a huge salary cap increase in 2025-26.
This will cause the value of players’ contracts to skyrocket.
Projected numbers suggest we could see the first $100 million per year deal being signed soon.
Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum is currently set to earn the highest single-season salary in NBA history, bringing in $71.5 million in 2029-30.
If TNT Sports successfully fulfills one of its bids to maintain its decades-long partnership with the league, basketball fans will also be on the winning side.
The network’s flagship Inside the NBA is a unique sports entertainment program, as evidenced by ESPN’s continued failure to present its own version of the show in recent years.
The NBA wouldn’t be the same without Kenny and Ernie trying to make sense of Shaq and Chuck’s endless fights every Tuesday night.
“All I can say is that I don’t know where [TNT] go from here. I mean, how many episodes of Law & Orde can you stream? Smith said.
“I’m just trying to figure that out, along with some of your other programming.
“You need something live, you need something new. How many old movies can you stream?
“So it will be very interesting to see what they do beyond next season.”
TNT is likely to start a legal battle against the NBA.
But it seems highly unlikely that this will result in the network securing the NBA rights as part of any deal.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
