Charles Barkley is preparing his LinkedIn profile, and has been doing so for a while now.
Amid continuing reports that his network could lose the rights to broadcast NBA games starting in the 2025-26 season, the TNT basketball analyst joked about the possibility of having to use the social media platform focused on employment, with the implication that he and his “Inside the NBA” co-hosts could soon be out of work, during a May 19 broadcast of the show.
More than two weeks later, Barkley made a similar comment Tuesday on the Sirius XM radio show “Beadle & Decker.”
“I'm getting my LinkedIn profile ready, so I might as well call you all,” Barkley told co-hosts Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker. “I could put them all on my resume. Alright?”
“Could” was the key word, as no official announcement has yet been made about what will happen to the league's broadcast rights when the current deal with TNT parent company Warner Bros. Discovery and parent company ESPN, Disney, end after next season.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the league is “getting closer” to a deal to broadcast its games on NBC, ESPN and Amazon, which would take TNT out of the loop for the first time since 1989. However, as of Tuesday, Barkley said he had not heard a word from his employer about whether the show he has appeared on since 2000 will end next year.
“That's what really bothered me the most about the TNT experience,” said Barkley, who hosts “Inside the NBA” with Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith. “Hey man, just tell us something. Because, you know, everyone publishes an article every day about whether we still have a chance or whether we've lost it. I'm like, yeah man, you guys see us every week. How about you pick up the phone and say, “Hey, we're still negotiating,” or “you know what, we lost it.”
“Just tell us the truth. Because the only thing that really sucks is that we have to do it next year no matter what.”
Barkley has been harping on the same thing for weeks. On May 23, he made no attempt to hide his anger during an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” where he told Patrick that “morale sucks, plain and simple” among those on “Inside the NBA” and He referred to his employers at TNT as “clowns” and “fools.”
Barkley's conversation with Patrick came a day after TNT announced a deal with ESPN to broadcast several College Football Playoff games beginning with the 2024 season.
“You know, these people that I work with, they clearly screwed this up, and we have no idea what's going to happen,” Barkley said. “I don't feel good, I'm not going to lie, especially when they came out yesterday and said we bought college football. I thought, damn, they could have used that money to buy the NBA.”
Barkley added: “We're sitting around waiting for these people to figure out what they're going to do.”
On an episode of the “SI Media with Jimmy Traina” podcast a week later, Barkley expressed similar frustrations about not knowing anything about the future of his show.
“Just say, 'Hey guys, we're in the middle of negotiations.' It's 50-50.' Just say something,” Barkley said. “I mean, we haven't discussed it. And not even just for me. The people who work there. They are the ones with pins and needles. Just say something so people can breathe a little. “I can’t imagine having a family and bills because, realistically, you’ll probably have to start looking for another job.”
He added: “Just call me and say, 'Hey, you know what? “It's going well”, “It's not going well”. …I'd feel better about it than not hearing anything.
Barkley reiterated to Beadle and Decker that calling him would be the best way for anyone to break the news to him, especially if it's bad news.
“If I get fired in person and lose all that money, I could break someone's neck on the spot,” he said, laughing. “It's probably best if you call me from a distance.”
