Ernie Johnson announces this will be his final ‘Inside the NBA’ season

Ernie Johnson is leaving Inside the NBA after this season. He wants to make one thing clear, though.

“Just to be clear, I’m not retiring,” Johnson said in a video announcement Wednesday. “Just cutting back.”

That’s still a significant change for one of basketball’s most recognizable shows. Johnson has been the steady presence alongside Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal, keeping the discussion moving and occasionally trying to bring it back from wherever those three had taken it.

Not always an easy assignment. Johnson made it look that way.

The 2026-27 season will be his last with the program, but he plans to remain involved in broadcasting and storytelling.

“I’ll still do March Madness and other projects for TNT and CBS, and I’ve just started a new production company called 32 Bowties geared toward telling feel-good stories in sports,” Johnson said. “So this is by no means the end. It’s just a turning of the page.”

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Johnson, 70, joined Turner Sports in 1989 and built a career that extended well beyond basketball. His assignments have included baseball, the Olympics, the World Cup and Wimbledon.

But Inside became his signature role. The six-time Sports Emmy winner could guide a serious conversation, deliver a joke or simply let the room breathe when the show wandered into something memorable.

Replacing that involves more than finding somebody to introduce highlights.

With Barkley also saying this will be his final season, Inside is approaching a substantial transition. Johnson will keep working. Basketball viewers will just have to get used to seeing considerably less of him in a very familiar seat.