Photo: Cliff Hawkins
Longtime co-host of TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” Charles Barkley joins Dan Patrick on the Dan Patrick Show to weigh in on the new media rights deal by the NBA that has left him and his TNT colleagues out in the cold. He thinks the league has concluded that the future is in streaming and that’s where the money is which is why they agreed to such a long contract. He also talks about his future now that the fate of “Inside the NBA” looks bleak.
Charles Barkley: “This was a last-ditch cash grab by the NBA and the players. That’s why I think they signed an 11-year deal. So they’re like, ‘Hey, let’s get as much money as we possibly can right now. This is going to be our last bite of the apple.’ Because TNT, ABC/ESPN, they’re not going to pay more money going forward. That’s why I think they’re like... ‘Hey, let’s get in bed with the streaming because they’re going to be the only people who can afford us in 11 years.”