Watching the regular-season debut of Inside the NBA Wednesday night, I couldn’t help wondering. Are we witnessing the final season of the greatest studio show in sports television as we know it? Not because anything is wrong with it. Quite the opposite.
The show is still funny, unpredictable, occasionally ridiculous and often more entertaining than the basketball games surrounding it. Charles Barkley is still insulting people. Shaquille O’Neal is still laughing at his own jokes. Kenny Smith is still trying to explain basketball, and Ernie Johnson is still attempting to maintain some semblance of order.
After more than three decades, nobody has figured out how to do it better. However, Barkley says this is his final season, presenting ESPN with a fascinating dilemma. How do you replace the one guy who can’t be replaced? Perhaps more importantly, should you even try?
Barkley, now 63, has repeatedly said the 2026-27 season will be his last. He explained that when Inside the NBA moved to ESPN, Johnson convinced him to stay for two more years. Partly to protect the jobs of the longtime production staff.
Last season was year one, and this is year two.
An Irreplaceable Product
Barkley recently described this season as a celebration of his television career and acknowledged that he might reconsider retirement if Johnson decides to continue. Although Ernie, who recently turned 70, hasn’t announced his own plans. Of course, Barkley has announced his retirement so many times that he should have his own farewell-tour merchandise by now.
Eventually, one of these announcements is going to stick. When it does, ESPN has a problem.
Remember, ESPN didn’t create Inside the NBA. It inherited the show through a licensing agreement after TNT lost its NBA rights. TNT Sports still produces it from Atlanta, which might be the smartest decision ESPN has made regarding its NBA coverage in years. ESPN essentially acquired a finished masterpiece. Thankfully, it resisted the temptation to repaint it.
For years, ESPN shuffled through NBA studio personalities, formats and combinations. Desperately searching for the chemistry TNT had perfected. Some versions were decent, while others felt like four people waiting for their turn to deliver a rehearsed opinion before the next commercial break.
That’s always been ESPN’s problem with its NBA studio programming. The network has plenty of recognizable names, basketball knowledge and production resources. But nothing approaching the natural chemistry of Inside the NBA. Chemistry isn’t something you can manufacture in a production meeting.
Targets To Consider
So, who replaces Barkley?
Draymond Green would seem like an obvious candidate. He’s appeared on the show, understands basketball and certainly isn’t afraid to express an opinion. However, Draymond isn’t Charles. Barkley has something that’s incredibly difficult to manufacture: charm. He can insult an entire city, butcher a player’s name or say something completely outrageous and somehow have everybody laughing along with him. Draymond sometimes sounds like he’s still arguing with an official about a technical foul from three weeks ago. That doesn’t mean Green couldn’t become a good television analyst.
It means being outspoken and being entertaining aren’t necessarily the same thing.
Jalen Rose? Richard Jefferson? Jamal Crawford? Chris Webber? Vince Carter? Plenty of talented former players could contribute, and Barkley himself has praised Rose and Carter as potential successors.
Replacing Barkley isn’t like finding another shooting guard who averages 18 points. You’re replacing the personality of the franchise, and there’s no guarantee any of those names could develop the same chemistry with Shaq, Kenny and Ernie.
What if Johnson leaves, too?
Ernie might be the most irreplaceable member of the entire operation. He’s the adult in the room, the point guard, the referee and occasionally the kindergarten teacher. His timing and relationships with the other three make the chaos work. Take away Barkley and Johnson, and you’re not simply replacing two television personalities.
You’re changing the entire identity of the show.
It’s like Seinfeld continuing without Jerry and Kramer. Sure, George and Elaine are terrific characters, but are you really watching the same show? Consider The Office after Steve Carell left. It continued for two more seasons, and there were still funny moments, but something essential was missing.
Does The Show Go On?
That’s the danger for ESPN, which has expanded Inside the NBA to 25 regular-season appearances this season. Clearly, the network understands the show’s value. However, if Barkley and Johnson walk away, does ESPN keep the name, plug in two replacements and pretend nothing happened?
Does Shaq stay? Does Kenny? Do they try to recreate the same jokes, arguments and relationships with different personalities?
That sounds like a terrible sequel nobody asked for.
I’m not suggesting ESPN should abandon NBA studio programming or that Shaq and Kenny couldn’t build something successful with a different cast. Give them that opportunity, perhaps with a different name and identity, but don’t pretend it’s still the same Inside the NBA.
There’s something to be said for protecting a show’s legacy rather than squeezing every possible dollar out of its name, especially when the network has already demonstrated how difficult it is to build that kind of chemistry.
Most television shows eventually end because they lose their creativity, audience or relevance. The personalities get tired, the material becomes predictable, and viewers move on. None of that has happened here. Inside the NBA isn’t limping toward the finish line. It’s still running circles around the competition, which makes the possibility of its eventual breakup even more unusual.
ESPN spent years trying to create the next Inside the NBA. Now that it finally has the original, it may discover the hardest lesson in television: You can buy the show, you can buy the name, and you can even buy the chairs, but you can’t buy another Charles Barkley.
The smartest thing ESPN can do when he finally leaves is stop trying.
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