Charles Barkley hasn’t fully committed to his future at Turner Sports, though the beloved NBA analyst has confirmed he won’t be joining NBC or Amazon. Less than two months ago, he claimed he was listening to offers from those networks, despite being under contract with Warner Bros. Discovery to continue at Turner, which has reached an agreement to license Inside the NBA to ESPN for the upcoming season. However, during the latest episode of The Steam Room with co-host Ernie Johnson, Barkley stated that he has rejected their offers but remains uncertain about his future with Turner Sports and ESPN.
“I want to talk about my future, because there’s been a lot of stuff going on here about my future and I want to make everything perfectly clear,” Barkley said. “I’m informing NBC that I will not accept their offer, and I’m going to cancel my future meetings with Amazon. I want to thank NBC, especially Mark Lazarus and Greg Hughes, for offering me a contract…but my heart has always and will be at Turner Sports. The only thing I’m waiting on right now between TNT and ESPN is my workload. I met with ESPN, those guys were amazing. I hope this comes together so I can stay at TNT and ESPN. But, like I said, it’s all going to be dictated by my workload. I’m not going to work more as I get older. I need to know how much I’m going to work moving forward.”
While Barkley’s future has been a topic of much discussion, it’s largely due to his own comments rather than external reports. Over the past eight months, he has announced his retirement, reaffirmed his loyalty to Turner, mentioned interest from NBC and Amazon, and pledged to keep the NBA on TNT crew together. Barkley also indicated that his workload with ESPN will be a crucial factor in decision-making. However, if he expresses a desire to avoid an increased workload and declines to participate in weekly segments on First Take or Get Up, would Turner and ESPN truly let him go? Notably, he voluntarily joined Mike Greenberg on Get Up this past Monday.
Regardless of what Turner and ESPN ultimately communicate about his workload, the basketball Hall of Famer mentioned that he plans to convene with Mike Wilbon, Tony Kornheiser, Bryant Gumbel, and Ahmad Rashad to discuss his future. It seems likely that Barkley is not finished addressing his prospects, but indications suggest he will continue as a part of Inside the NBA, even amidst the licensing agreement with ESPN.
