It appears ESPN got the message.
“Inside the NBA” will have a significantly larger presence on ESPN and ABC this season, with the popular studio show scheduled to appear on 25 nights during the regular season, according to Mike Prada of The Athletic.
That’s five more appearances than last season. More importantly, viewers won’t have to spend nearly as much time wondering where Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal went.
The show is scheduled for seven appearances before Christmas, compared to four over the same stretch last season. ESPN said the idea is to give “Inside” a more “consistent presence throughout the NBA season.”
That was decidedly not the case a year ago. At one point, the crew appeared just once between Nov. 12 and Jan. 24, with that lone show coming on Christmas. Fans noticed. So did Barkley.
“We’ve complained, we’ve only been on ESPN four times in three months,” Barkley said last season. “I don’t like that at all.”
Problem solved, or at least improved. The expanded schedule also could carry a little more significance given what Barkley has said about the show’s future.
As we noted recently at Hoops Wire, Barkley has maintained that this will be his final season if Johnson follows through with his own plans to step away.
Barkley has threatened retirement before, of course, so we’ll believe that one when we see it.
Either way, ESPN appears determined to make considerably more use of the crew while it still can
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