Charles Barkley is one of the few television personalities whose illustrious Hall of Fame-caliber career in his individual sport somehow ended up overshadowed (even if ever-so-slightly) by his career on TV. That’s how transcendent Barkley’s time on Inside the NBA has been.
That’s why it came as quite a shock when Barkley announced his retirement from television over the weekend on NBA TV.
The timing was especially strange considering that Turner Sports is negotiating with the NBA to potentially keep some portion of the league’s broadcast on the network. He’s voiced his frustrations with the negotiations and seemed to have still been all-in on Inside the NBA and his crew.
Barkley would undoubtedly be a huge part of Turner’s pitch to the NBA, and now, theoretically, he’s not there anymore. So where do things go from here? Is Barkley seriously even retiring?
We can only take him at his word for it. But, if he doesn’t retire, he’ll surely have more than a few options for his next move.
Let’s talk about a few of them here.
Amazon Prime
Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
This is the move that everyone thinks Barkley could end up making, even if he does retire.
Amazon is reportedly one of the entities getting a piece of the NBA’s broadcast rights in the league’s next television deal. The negotiated deal would be between $1.8 billion and $2 billion, according to the Sports Business Journal.
It’s not unfounded to think that Amazon would try and poach Barkley in this scenario. The company reportedly offered Al Michaels a 3-year, $45 million contract to call its Thursday Night Football games. You could easily see Barkley getting a deal of that caliber to do a pre-game or post-game show on whatever Amazon’s NBA broadcast would be called.
NBC Sports
This is the NBC peacock logo. (NBC)
It’s hard to envision Charles Barkley at NBC. Just take a look at the brand’s broadcasts — they’re always so buttoned up and refined.
Charles Barkley tends to be the complete opposite. The guy is a talker. One second, he might be pouring his heart out for the league’s head coaches after he feels like they got a raw deal. The next, he might be completely roasting one of his co-hosts for an opinion he doesn’t agree with. You never know what you’ll get with Chuck — that’s the beauty of having him on a broadcast.
Despite the oil and water feel here, you can bet NBC would throw a bag at Barkley to get him on its airwaves talking about the NBA.
ESPN
Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Charles Barkley has repeatedly said he’d never go to ESPN because they’d work him too hard.
But money talks, folks! He’s reportedly already been in contact with the company (as well as both Amazon and NBC), according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. There seems to have been some interest there.
Marchand proposed an interesting “sweetheart deal” that would appease both sides:
A sweetheart deal for Barkley to do the opening night of the regular season and then the playoffs would be a win-win for everyone. Barkley would not have to work as hard and would continue to make millions while gracing the ESPN studio shows, lifting them up during the biggest games of the season, including the finals.
That’s a best-of-both-worlds scenario. Barkley wouldn’t need to work as hard as other ESPN personalities who are on multiple shows multiple times per day. But he’d also still maintain his standing as the premiere face of NBA programming for the sport’s biggest moments. Plus, he’d be out of the clutches of ESPN’s competitors.
Inside the NBA on TNT
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Turner Sports)
If Barkley reverses his decision and decides not to retire, it feels like the chances are high that he’d stick with Turner Sports at this point with or without the NBA.
Remember, Turner is still negotiating with the NBA and could potentially strike a deal with the league as its fourth broadcast rights holder. If that happens, the Inside the NBA should remain intact in one way or another. And that would mean there’s a chance Barkley gets to stay with his crew.
But even if it doesn’t, Barkley is still a key contributor in other moments for TNT, including its NCAA Tournament coverage in March. He’d still stick around for that.
None of this is set in stone at this point. There’s still plenty for all of these parties to figure out. But, when it comes down to it, Charles Barkley still has plenty of options available. It all just depends on what he wants to do.