Chris Haynes is reportedly leaving Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiaries TNT Sports and Bleacher Report and will be a free agent. Haynes, who has been associated with coverage of the NBA from TNT Sports over the last five years, is departing the company “shortly” as his contract is set to expire. Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post was the first to report the news, which adds another league insider into a free-agent class that is also said to include Shams Charania.
Haynes previously worked for ESPN and Yahoo Sports before becoming a sideline reporter for TNT in 2019. Three years later, he moved his written work to Bleacher Report and also started hosting an NBA podcast through iHeartMedia, titled #thisleague UNCUT, alongside NBA insider Marc Stein. TNT Sports has not made an official announcement pertaining to the commentary teams that will be part of its NBA coverage next year.
For the last several seasons, the lead broadcast team has consisted of play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan, analysts Reggie Miller and Stan Van Gundy, and sideline reporter Allie LaForce. Haynes frequently contributed across the portfolio in the reporting role, making appearances on Inside the NBA to provide news and updates and also retaining a strong presence on social media.
Warner Bros. Discovery and the Turner Broadcasting System are currently involved in litigation brought forth against the National Basketball Association pertaining to media rights negotiations. The Plaintiffs allege that the league breached its existing contract in declining to permit its exercise of matching rights, presumably violating a clause that it would be unable to “enter into an agreement or agreements with any third party or parties” without giving TBS a chance to accept it.
As it currently stands though, the upcoming 2024-25 season will be the last on WBD/TBS platforms, ending a partnership with entities owned by the company that spans back to the 1984-85 season. Going forward, The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC), NBCUniversal (NBC/Peacock) and Amazon (Prime Video) will be the national rights partners under 11-year agreements reportedly worth a collective $77 billion. It remains unknown if any of these companies are pursuing Haynes to be part of their NBA coverage, or if he will sign a deal with one company or work across multiple different entities.
