For the past few years, Warner Sports has given fans two options for watching the NBA All-Star Game, as TNT has had the traditional broadcast while TBS has offered a version with the Inside The NBA crew calling the game.
This year, rather than having Ernie, Kenny, Shaq, and Chuck on a broadcast with Draymond Green roaming the sidelines, truTV will pair Barkley and Green on a broadcast for Sunday’s game, with Adam Lefkoe hosting and Jamal Crawford handling sideline duties. Barkley and Green have traditionally gone back-and-forth on the All-Star broadcast with Green on the sideline and Barkley at the desk, but this year they’ll get to spar face-to-face on truTV.
Chuck delights in riling up Green, prodding him in the past by comparing him to Rudy Gobert and saying the Warriors are cooked, and this year he’s going to have four quarters at. desk with Draymond to try and make him mad. As TNT Sports’ VP Craig Barry noted to The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch, they couldn’t pass up a chance to put the two together for a broadcast this year.
“Over the last couple of years when Draymond has come to the studio or with interactions at All-Star Games, it was really evident the chemistry between him and Charles,” Barry said. “There was a lot of dialog and fun and provocative debate. It’s something that we think fans potentially want to see more of so we thought this was an opportunity to sit them down next to each other and essentially watch the game together. We thought what could we put together that would be an interesting conversation —and all things led to Draymond and Charles.”
Having Lefkoe, not Ernie Johnson, as the host figures to ensure things go off the rails because, with all due respect, there is no way Lefkoe is going to be able to rein in Chuck the way Ernie knows how. For this particular scenario, that’s probably for the best as the entire point of this broadcast on truTV is for Barkley and Green to go back-and-forth. Jamal Crawford serving as liaison between the booth and the players should be fun too, as he’s a beloved figure in the game and should get some good stuff out of the players on the bench.