“What are they gonna do, fire us?” Charles Barkley threatens to walk out of sets during live NBA coverage

Charles Barkley threatens to walk off set as Kenny Smith and the Inside Crew mock the late show timings before Mavericks vs Spurs game.

“What are they gonna do, fire us?” Charles Barkley threatens to walk out of sets during live NBA coverage

Charles Barkley unhappy with employer Warner Bros. Discovery as TNT delayed Round Mound Media's projects

Charles Barkley has as dynamic a personality as anyone in the sports entertainment industry. On Thursday night’s Inside the NBA pregame show, before the Dallas Mavericks took on the San Antonio Spurs, Chuck and the Inside crew engaged in some tongue-in-cheek action before play kicked off.

With a late-night West Coast game, the Inside Crew was stuck in their studio till almost 1 AM EST. Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith were joking in the studio about the late run time of the show.

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Chuck mockingly threatened to walk off the set when the clock struck 1 as it was supposed to be the scheduled run time. With the show already set to air its last season this year, Barkley did not care for formalities of the show.

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We’re walking out of here at 1 o’clock… What are they gonna do, fire us?

Charles Barkley joked on the show

The Inside the NBA show is already running its last season on air as the NBA is entering its last season in its current media deal. The upcoming season will see the league shifting to NBC and Amazon as their broadcast partners over Turner Sports. This came about following an offseason that saw Turner Sports failing to match the offer put forth by Amazon.

With Turner Sports losing its rights, Inside the NBA will become a casualty in the process, with crew, and especially Charles Barkley asserting that they will not work on different basketball shows in the future. Even though Chuck mocked the show for daring to fire them, the Inside crew is well aware that the current season may be the last we see of the iconic quartet on television.

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What is the future of Charles Barkley and the Inside crew?

The future of Inside the NBA remains uncertain. The show comes under the umbrella of Turner Sports, and with TNT set to lose its broadcast rights, the show faces an untimely end. However, the only caveat is the ongoing lawsuit between Turner Sports and the NBA.

During the summer, Turner Sports sued the NBA for adding ‘purposely onerous and immaterial contractual provisions’ to dissuade Turner Sports from matching Amazon’s offer. However, the NBA is moving to dismiss the lawsuit before a trial begins by claiming that Amazon’s match of offers was a counteroffer to Turner Sports’ purported deal.

The League is citing a 51-year-old case in an attempt to counter the arguments put forth by Turner Sports. In the middle of the legal proceedings, the crew at TNT remains in the pool of uncertainty.

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With no media deal set to happen in the near future, it’s perhaps time to ride along with the Inside crew for one last season. The quartet of Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson have perhaps been the most iconic sports show anchors of all time. If the show does end, we’ll surely miss their antics on television.