For 35 years, Inside the NBA was the postgame show. The late-night chaos, the honesty, the chemistry, no studio show in sports matched what Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal built on TNT. So when the news broke that the crew would be moving to ESPN after Turner lost NBA rights, fans were skeptical. And no one was more openly doubtful than Charles Barkley himself.
For months, Barkley voiced concerns about what the show would become on ESPN’s tighter programming clock. Reports of a possible 30-minute postgame slot fueled those fears, suggesting a departure from the extended segments that produced the show’s best moments. Fans flooded message boards and social media with the same worry: Will Inside get squeezed out by SportsCenter? And turns out, Barkley might’ve jumped the gun.
Burke Magnus, ESPN’s President of Content, has made the network’s stance clear, and it’s exactly what fans of the show wanted to hear. “That is our goal. It will be as close to that as we can possibly get,” Magnus told The Athletic, when asked whether Inside the NBA would be allowed to stretch postgame the way it did on TNT. “I understand that standard operating procedure for us for many years has been to get to SportsCenter. There’s going to be 200 or 300 (other) nights or so that we’re still going to do that.”
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For the nights Inside is on the air? Magnus says ESPN’s priority is to keep the show intact: “(Fans are) going to get the show they love in a way that’s very similar to the way it’s always been. It’s still produced in Atlanta by the very same people that produced it for Turner. It’s in their building. Other than a logo on the set, it’s going to appear the same, and that’s exactly what we want.”
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Magnus promised the show will remain authentic, assuring fans it won’t be altered or watered down. Apart from featuring the same crew, it will also be produced by Atlanta by the same Turney staff in the same building. ESPN plans to air the crew for pregame, halftime, and postgame segments, similar to its TNT format. However, SportsCenter and other ESPN programming may shorten some nights. When the “Inside” crew isn’t on, ESPN will rely on its NBA Countdown team, including the likes of Malika Andrews, Bob Myers, Kendrick Perkins, and Michael Wilbon.
ESPN holds Wednesdays, Saturday nights on ABC, and Sunday afternoons (plus some Fridays), while TNT had Tuesdays and Thursdays with no competing programming—meaning ESPN faces more live-event conflicts. Hence, while some adjustments will occur, ESPN have no watering down the show that has been running for 35 years and has won 21 Sports Emmys.
Opening night coverage on October 22 will feature the full Inside crew with Ernie, Chuck, Kenny, and Shaq on ESPN. They’ll also be on air for the Christmas Day slate and for all ESPN playoff nights. The show will take a hiatus between those events due to the way ESPN’s NBA schedule is structured, but when it returns, the experience promises to mirror what fans have always known.
Barkley’s doubts about ESPN’s Inside the NBA
Just weeks ago, Barkley doubled down on his doubts. “We’re all going to be doing the show in Atlanta, but we’re all kind of like, how’s this thing going to play out?” he said on The Bettor Angle. “Our best stuff is 40 minutes after the game, when we can just have some fun. But are they going to say, ‘Hey, you guys got five minutes or 15 minutes, then we gotta go to SportsCenter?’”
That was based on ESPN’s early programming schedule, which showed Inside the NBA slotted for only 30 minutes postgame on October 22. Reports from Sports Media Watch revealed a 12:05–12:35 a.m. ET window, followed immediately by a Bristol-based SportsCenter. Barkley didn’t hold back, saying: “There’s been a lack of communication from everybody because I don’t think nobody knows what’s going to happen, to be honest.”
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Even more frustrating for fans was the inconsistency. TNT’s schedule allowed late-night flexibility, often extending to two hours, unlike ESPN’s structured lineup with Wednesday doubleheaders, Saturday ABC nights, and Sunday afternoons. Then, going dark until Christmas, a shift from weekly appearances. Longtime viewers who used to watch Chuck and Shaq joke until 2 a.m. weren’t happy. The shift to a special-events-only schedule felt like a downgrade, at odds with everything ESPN initially promised.
Barkley has also stated that the new show lacks NBA highlights, which are integral to the program’s format, and believes this will hinder its appeal to viewers. And while ESPN may have rushed to answer some of the questions, doubts will continue to linger until the actual coverage proves the concerns wrong.