TNT’s ‘Inside The NBA’ to appear on ESPN, ABC beginning in 2025-26

TNT’s ‘Inside The NBA’ to appear on ESPN, ABC beginning in 2025-26

As a result of Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA agreeing to a lawsuit, Turner Sports’ Inside the NBA will appear on ESPN Networks, starting in 2025-26 when the league’s new media rights deal kicks in, ESPN announced Monday.

“Inside the NBA is universally recognized as one of the best and most culturally impactful shows in sports,” Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN Chairman, said via release. “We have long-admired the immensely talented team and are thrilled to add their chemistry and knowledge to our robust set of NBA studio offerings to super-serve NBA fans like never before. The addition of Inside the NBA further solidifies ESPN as the preeminent destination for sports fans.”

TNT Sports will still independently produce the show, which is expected to appear on ESPN and ABC surrounding different events throughout the year, including the NBA Playoffs, NBA Finals and Christmas Day.

The NBA ratified a new 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal with the league in July with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon. Per the contract, Disney (ESPN/ABC) networks were expected to host 80 regular season NBA games–60 on ESPN and 20 on ABC–plus 18 games in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the entirety of the NBA Finals, NBA Draft, NBA Draft Lottery and the All-Star Celebrity game, among others.

ESPN will continue to produce NBA Countdown and NBA Today, hosted by Malika Andrews.

Inside the NBA has been a stable since the 1989-90 season. The primary staples of the show–Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith–are expected to remain on the program, at the time of this publishing. Barkley initially retired before undergoing a change of heart in August, announcing he would stay throughout the rest of his contract.

An interesting part about their new partnership will be that TNT will now televise “an exclusive slate of Big 12 football and men’s basketball games,” starting in 2025, per the release. TNT partners with CBS during March Madness to host the NCAA Tournament across TNT, TBS and TruTV, which always has great coverage.

It’s good to see this was sorted out sooner rather than later, especially since TNT didn’t have a previous plan for its NBA staple. That doesn’t mean that NBA games will be there, because they won’t be, but at least the people get to see the NBA’s top entertainment show beyond the 2024-25 campaign.

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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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