Charles Barkley On TNT Lawsuit: ‘The NBA Is Like, Yes, Too Late, We Don’t Care’

It appears the end is near for TNT’s coverage of the NBA, and Charles Barkley doesn’t think the network’s lawsuit against the league will mean a thing.

Barkley appeared on the podcast from Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George to discuss multiple NBA topics, including the league’s media rights moving to NBC and Amazon Prime, while holdover ESPN/ABC will continue to broadcast and stream games.

That left TNT in the dust — though its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is suing the NBA after the NBA rejected its attempt to match the Amazon portion of the reported $11-year, $77 billion deal.

Barkley, of course, is perhaps the most popular analyst in all of basketball, via his role on the TNT studio show Inside the NBA, hosted by Ernie Johnson and also featuring Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.

“I don’t think (NBA commissioner Adam Silver) would leave himself open to lose a lawsuit. He was a lawyer and I think he’s too smart,” Barkley said on Podcast P. “So your question is correct — we have filed a lawsuit, but I think the NBA is like, yes, too late, we don’t care.

“You guys sued to get the Amazon package, but when we signed the original deal six, eight years ago, y’all had to match NBC or ESPN, which is like another $500 million a year and I think our people were like, we’re going to try to match the cheapest one and Adam’s like, yeah, that sh*t’s not going to work. Y’all could match, but y’all had to match the bigger number.

“So I don’t think Adam is dumb enough where he would open himself up to lose that lawsuit. So I’m not even sure why. First of all, I’m not even sure why we sued.”

Barkley, 61, is reportedly contemplating retirement, but suggested he could make a move to any of the new NBA media rights holders. TNT is entering the final year of its contract with the league.

“I wouldn’t want them to sue,” Barkley told Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. “The NBA clearly wanted to break up with us. I don’t want to be in a relationship where I have to sue somebody to be in it. That makes zero sense.

“If you have to sue somebody to stay in a relationship, do you think that is a healthy relationship?”