ESPN used to have a very defined culture. It was shaped by being located in the middle of nowhere, Connecticut. It was refined by the Walt Disney Company. Some people fit in. Others did not.
The cast of Inside the NBA declared “we coming” as it signed off on its original network for the last time following the Eastern Conference Finals. Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith wanted their fans to know that they are moving, not going away. They wanted the brass at ESPN to know that the show everyone has known for more than three decades is the one they are going to get.
Culture is still important at ESPN, but not as important as connecting with an audience. Inside the NBA may be leaving TNT for ESPN, but make no mistake—in the battle for studio show supremacy, TNT won, and ESPN knows it. This is a classic case of “if you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em.” Keep that in mind anytime you read or hear someone disingenuously bemoaning what the network will do to Inside the NBA once it becomes part of the network’s basketball broadcasts.
The Goal Isn’t To Bring ESPN to Inside the NBA
One common prediction I have heard is that ESPN is going to force some of its most popular personalities onto the program alongside Kenny, Chuck, and Shaq. Predictions include Pat McAfee getting a seat next to Ernie or Stephen A. Smith replacing Ernie entirely.
That won’t happen.
Bill Simmons reflected on his own time on ESPN’s NBA studio show and predicted that ESPN will ruin Inside the NBA by overstuffing it with commercials. That’s what the network does now to its own NBA Countdown, after all.
That won’t happen either.
Jimmy Pitaro and Burke Magnus won’t say it out loud, but they are waving the white flag. They did a deal to license Inside the NBA after TNT lost NBA rights because they saw a chance to replace something that didn’t work with something that worked as well as any show on sports television.
The ESPN model for NBA coverage makes the game broadcast the very top priority. That is where ESPN has excelled. Mike Breen is the very best at what he does.
The studio show was far down the list of priorities. That’s why it’s about pace. Stephen A. Smith, Bill Simmons, Jalen Rose, Michael Wilbon, Mike Greenberg, Magic Johnson, and whoever else you want to mention from the network’s long list of NBA Countdown stars cannot compete with the chemistry and star power of Ernie, Kenny, Chuck, and Shaq. If ESPN wanted to do Inside the NBA without the cast of Inside the NBA, it would always look like the JV team.
Chuck Is Too Valuable to F*** With
Charles Barkley has never been shy about how he feels about ESPN. He has plenty of money. If ESPN wants to change his workload, he can retire knowing he has already accomplished everything he wanted to in broadcasting.
Now, put yourself in Jimmy Pitaro’s shoes. Do you want to piss Chuck off and be responsible for dropping the value of your licensing deal by irreversible multitudes?
Barkley is friendly with McAfee. He has a long relationship with Michael Wilbon and with Scott Van Pelt. He might bust balls with Stephen A. Smith, but the two seem to like each other.
None of that means he wants to do a show with those people. He has his partners on screen. He has his trusted crew working behind the scenes. If that’s who he wants to work with, ESPN is smart enough to make sure those are the only people Charles Barkley is working with.
ESPN did a licensing deal with Pat McAfee because he is a difference maker. It did a similar deal with Inside the NBA for similar reasons. The network broke off more money for Stephen A. Smith than anyone on the network before him, because he makes people tune in to see what he will say. Sports fans know Stephen A. Smith will make headlines. Your grandmother knows who Charles Barkley is and what he does.
Other networks tried to hire Barkley when it became clear that the NBA was leaving TNT. ESPN got creative. Even if it cost him some money, Barkley got what he wanted from ESPN—working the way and with the people he is comfortable. If any change to that arrangement could cost ESPN Barkley’s services, why would they consider making any change?
Inside the NBA Won
It’s really important to stress what happened here. TNT may have lost NBA rights, but Inside the NBA left an impression so deep that its fate was never going to be tied to negotiations led by David Zaslav, who walked in seemingly trying to lose.
ESPN is getting everything that comes along with Inside the NBA. They are getting longer segments. They’re getting a postgame show. They are getting conversations that can sometimes make suits uncomfortable. All of that stuff is why basketball fans love Inside the NBA.
Think of Inside the NBA going to ESPN like Aaron Rodgers going to the Jets. He was never going to be asked to fit in. Rodgers’ culture was always going to be the Jets’ culture.
Obviously, there is a big difference between those two situations—Inside the NBA is still good at its job. All the more reason to believe that it won’t be asked to fit into ESPN culture. When it comes to the NBA, Inside the NBA is ESPN’s new culture.
Things won’t be exactly the same when Inside the NBA moves to ESPN in the 2025–26 season. A lot of it will look the same, but the show won’t be attached to every NBA game ESPN and ABC cover.
Inside the NBA is special. ESPN knows it, and it knows that the show doesn’t need to be improved. It won’t benefit from being tinkered with just to feed the egos of people in Bristol.
Look at the pregame and halftime shows airing right now during the NBA Finals. ESPN may not admit that they are not good, but the network definitely knows that it could be better.
That’s what making a deal with Inside the NBA is supposed to do, and I trust Jimmy Pitaro and his colleagues to let everyone that has made TNT’s show the gold standard in sports television do it.
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Demetri Ravanos is a former columnist and editor for Barrett Media. He is the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host of the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
