A new NBA season begins on Tuesday night. It is perfect timing for TNT, who just signed the entire Inside the NBA crew to new contracts. That includes Charles Barkley, who could get well over $100,000,000 if he were to stay for the entire ten years of his new deal, but that probably isn’t going to be what happens.
“There’s probably zero chance I’m gonna stay for the entire ten years,” he told Dan Patrick.
During negotiations, Barkley says he was upfront with Warner Bros. Discovery. He does not want to work until the day he dies. He says the network was adamant that it needs him on TNT for at least the next three seasons.
Patrick asked how much the flirtations with LIV Golf effected his paycheck. Charles Barkley said that they were not a factor at all. The bigger motivation for TNT’s generosity was the network’s desire to continue its relationship with the NBA.
“TNT asked me like ‘We need something from you. Would you give us something?’ and I said ‘What do you want?’ They said ‘We need you to stay longer. We can’t lose you and bid on the NBA.’”
Barkley says he was given the impression that the league will open negotiations for new media rights deals very soon.
He added that he was more motivated by helping out a company that had been so good to him than he was by the paycheck, joking that after a long NBA career and an already successful broadcasting career he “would be stupid” not to already have enough money.
Patrick joked that Charles Barkley is such a bad gambler that his fortunes could change at any moment. The Hall of Famer fired back with “When I renegotiate my deals to do commercials, I factor in gambling losses.”
