The 2024 NBA Conference Finals will tip-off this week, with the Pacers-Celtics series being broadcast on ESPN, while TNT will carry the Mavs-Timberwolves battle. As always, TNT’s studio crew will hit the road for the Western Conference Finals, with Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal going live from outside the arena with fans gathered behind.
This year, that group will be joined by Draymond Green as a permanent fifth member of the crew for the first time on the road. Green will be in Minnesota and Dallas for the entire series, and that figures to add an interesting element, to say the least, especially considering they regularly bring out stars of the game to talk with the fellas on set. Green is not on the best terms with the Minnesota frontcourt, namely Rudy Gobert, but he’s also been critical of Karl-Anthony Towns in the past. After Game 5 of the second round series with the Nuggets, Green proclaimed the series would end in Game 6 and was absolutely giddy breaking down Gobert getting worked by Nikola Jokic.
You can bet he will hear it plenty from the crowd in Minnesota and may have some icy interactions with any of the Wolves that drop by the set. And it’s also a lock that, in case things aren’t awkward enough when those guys join the crew, Chuck and Shaq inevitably instigate things and bring up everything he’s said in the past.