Charles Barkley has not been shy about expressing his frustration with the current predicament the TNT crew finds itself in, as they wait to find out if they are, for sure, out of jobs after next season. Reports have indicated ESPN, NBC, and Amazon will be the NBA’s broadcast partners for the next rights deal, with Warner Bros. Discovery failing to meet the league’s initial asking price in the exclusive negotiation window and now having to pay even more to retain the package.
There are many fans frustrated with TNT’s failed negotiation as well, because it will bring a premature end to the best sports studio show on television. That’s led to many people reliving their favorite Inside the NBA memories, and recently Barkley did the same with Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina. One moment that lives in the all-time lore of the show is the time Barkley stepped all over Shaq’s time during a segment and the big man got so mad he wouldn’t participate, offering up the iconic “it’s supposed to be 1, 2, 3, not 1, 2, back to 1” line that still gets referenced on the show when Chuck starts jumping in to add another word.
Apparently, Shaq’s anger was very real over that moment, particularly once Ernie, Chuck, and Kenny lost it laughing, and he spent the next two days refusing to talk to the rest of the crew unless they were on-air.
“Oh my God, he didn’t speak to us for two days,” said Barkley. “He was that pissed. He didn’t speak to us for two days. I’m not even exaggerating. The only time he talked is if we were on the air and then he’d go back. Normally we sit around together and watch the game in the same room and shoot the s— the whole time. He was so mad about that. He was really serious about that, but we didn’t care.”
“The worst thing you can do to him is laugh at him,” Barkley added.
Shaq has since loosened up a bit, but still bristles at being laughed at. I think this frustrated him more than anything else because he was 100 percent right and still the guys couldn’t help but laugh while Chuck poked the bear with the “Mr. Sensitive” stuff. Taking this show away from us would supplant refusing to release Coyote vs. Acme as the worst thing David Zaslav has done to the viewing public.