“Make the right choice NBA!” – Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal get lifeline as TNT matches Amazon bid, fans demand league make right choice

TNT's parent company WBD initially were hesitant to fight with NBC, Amazon, and ESPN for the media rights deal.

“Make the right choice NBA!” – Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal get lifeline as TNT matches Amazon bid, fans demand league make right choice

Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal get lifeline as TNT matches Amazon bid, fans demand NBA make right choice

In the last couple of months, the basketball world was almost resigned to the inevitable demise of Inside the NBA. The beloved show had fans rolling in their chairs whenever the likes of Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson brought in banter alongside their analysis of games. However, it seems TNT has made a last-ditch effort to save the show, leading fans to plead with the NBA.

TNT and their parent company, Warner Bros Discovery initially were hesitant to fight with NBC, Amazon, and ESPN for the media rights deal. NBC’s bid was already a bit too much for TNT. Fans were resigned to the fact that TNT would not match NBC’s bid for the largest package the NBA had laid out. However, the Amazon bid was much smaller money-wise. Now the media conglomerate has confirmed that it has matched the bid for that package.

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Now the onus is on the NBA to decide which package to accept. If the league does decide to accept WBD’s offer, it could mean that Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and their colleagues could be back. It could tempt the Hall of Famer to reverse his decision to retire.

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This new deal is for the next 11 years. Therefore, if all goes to TNT’s plan, the quartet could ride out into the sunset and retire and at the same time, pave the wave for others to take over. However, the league could scupper all that and accept the bid from Amazon.

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Fans want the NBA to choose Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal

The league knows that TNT and WBD were not interested in continuing with the NBA. Going so far as to say that they did not need the league and were moving into other sports. But the league also knows that fans have an affinity towards Inside the NBA and the commentating team at TNT. Therefore, they want Commissioner Adam Silver and his executive staff to make the right call keeping fans in mind.

Fans took to social media platforms to plead with the league to make the right choice. Check out some of those reactions below:

https://twitter.com/Lonzo_Muse/status/1815476703122379242

The NBA will definitely look into everything as this is a 11-year deal. They know that at some point Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson might retire. More importantly, they know that streaming is the future of broadcasting. Therefore, a tough choice to make when keeping fans in mind.