“I wouldn’t want them to sue!” – Charles Barkley focused on retirement amidst TNT-NBA legal battle

Charles Barkley is keeping his attention on his own future.

“I wouldn’t want them to sue!” – Charles Barkley focused on retirement amidst TNT-NBA legal battle

Charles Barkley

Charles Barkley is staying focused on his own plans for retirement amidst the legal battle between TNT and the NBA. Warner Bros. Discovery, TNT’s parent company, has filed a breach of contract suit against the league after it rejected their media rights offer in favor of a deal with Amazon Prime Video.

Barkley, who is in the third year of his 10-year, $210 million deal with TNT, has reportedly been in talks with other networks about his future free-agent status. However, he had reiterated to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic his plans to retire after the upcoming season, assuming TNT pays out his contract in full.

I wouldn’t want them to sue. The NBA clearly wanted to break up with us. I don’t want to be in a relationship where I have to sue somebody to be in it. That makes zero sense. If you have to sue somebody to stay in a relationship, do you think that is a healthy relationship? Right now, I’m planning on retiring. I’m not trying to do anything.
 Charles Barkley told Andrew Marchand of The Athletic

Barkley’s retirement would coincide with the end of Inside The NBA on TNT, as the network will lose its NBA media rights after the 2025-26 season.

FS Video

As the legal battle between TNT and the NBA continues, Charles Barkley is keeping his attention on his future. With his retirement plans in place, he’s not getting caught up in the drama between his current employer and the league.

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Warner Bros. Discovery sues NBA over media rights deal

Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a lawsuit against the NBA, alleging that the league breached its contract by declining its offer for a new media rights deal and instead signing with Amazon. The lawsuit claims that the NBA failed to allow Warner Bros. Discovery to match Amazon’s offer, as required by their contract.

The NBA signed an 11-year media rights deal worth nearly $76 billion with Disney, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video, ending a nearly four-decade business relationship with Turner. Warner Bros. Discovery had matched Amazon’s offer of $1.8 billion per year, but the league declined to accept.

The lawsuit seeks to enforce Warner Bros. Discovery’s contractual rights and prevent the NBA from granting broadcast rights to Amazon. The company argues that losing these rights would harm its business and brand, which has invested heavily in NBA coverage over the years.

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