Charles Barkley: Clearly, the NBA wanted to break up with us from the beginning

But Charles Barkley was wise enough to demand an out clause in his last contract negotiation, which enables him to become a TV free agent if TNT loses NBA rights. With TNT likely to take the NBA to court, the network’s not out of the game yet. Now, odds are the NBA will be on Prime, not TNT, starting with the 2025–2026 season. As ‘Tuned In’ predicted on May 2, that would instantly send Sir Charles’s star into the stratosphere. The Chuckster could command $20 million-plus offers from the NBA’s new trio of rights partners: newcomer Prime; incumbent ABC/ESPN; and former broadcast partner NBC, which held the rights during the Michael Jordan golden era from 1990 to 2002. ESPN is already eying Barkley and the entire cast of Inside the NBA, say my sources. Ditto for Prime. After the NBA and Prime formally announced the deal, Front Office Sports spoke one-on-one with Jay Marine, global head of sports for Prime Video. Marine spoke carefully about his interest in Barkley and the rest of the Inside the NBA cast. But he professed his strong admiration for Barkley and the show, noting it inspired Prime’s own Thursday Night Football wraparound programming with host Charissa Thompson. -via Front Office Sports / July 26, 2024