Charles Barkley To Retire from Broadcasting: ‘Next Year Is Going To Be My Last Year on Television’

Charles Barkley, co-host of Inside the NBA on TNT, said he is leaving the television business after the 2024-25 season amid speculation that the drama network will soon lose its NBA television rights deal.

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Barkley, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and one of the most recognizable personalities in TV sports, said Friday during NBA TV's postgame coverage of the Dallas Mavericks’ victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the NBA Finals that he will end his television career, regardless of whether TNT renews its NBA rights deal. The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned network reportedly will lose its current TV rights agreement with the league to NBCUniversal when the new NBA TV deals are announced shortly.  The reported new NBA TV rights package, worth $75 billion, will include distribution partners Disney, NBCUniversal, and Prime Video.

“There's been a lot of noise around our network the last few months. I just wanna say, I've talked to all of the other networks, but I ain't going nowhere other than TNT,” Barkley said. “But I have made the decision myself, no matter what happens, next year is gonna be my last year on television.”

A member of the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, Barkley co-hosts Inide The NBA show — which airs during halftime and after TNT NBA game telecasts — along with Ernie Johnson Jr., Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith. The show has also been inducted into the B+C Hall of Fame. 

TNT in a statement called Barkley a “broadcasting icon,” adding that the network looks forward to “further discussion of our future plans with him.”

Barkley's announcement comes as the NBA Finals on ABC is averaging 11.57 million viewers, which is even with the first three games of the 2023 Denver Nuggets-Miami Heat finals. Game 4 ratings were not available at press time.