Charles Barkley’s time with “Inside the NBA” might be coming to a close — though that’ll depend on what program host Ernie Johnson decides to do.
On an episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast” on Friday, Barkley revealed that he and Johnson had agreed to stay on the program for two more years after it moved from TNT to ESPN last season. That means that this coming season will be the last for the duo, unless things change.
The revelation began after Simmons joked that Barkley had “retired” several times but it had never gone through. Barkley, 63, said that he had originally planned to retire from “Inside the NBA” when he turned 60, but they had asked him to stay two more years.
At the point that he was planning to retire, though, TNT lost the media rights to the NBA, leaving the fate of “Inside the NBA” in the balance — something that Barkley was vocally unhappy about at the time. Barkley said he was already retired when Johnson approached him and said that they had struck a deal to bring “Inside the NBA” to ESPN starting in the 2026-27 season.
“Me and Ernie are a package deal,” Barkley said. “Ernie said to me, ‘Chuck, would you please stay for two more years?’ I said, ‘I love you, man. You’re the best. I’ll stay for two more years.’ So right now, unless Ernie changes his mind, next year is my last year, 100 percent. … If he says he’s done, I’m gone.”
Per Barkley, Johnson had pointed out that if they both stayed, the crew members on “Inside the NBA” would get to keep their jobs, which became a motivating factor for them sticking around.
Now, though, this retirement plan would give Johnson, Barkley and co-analysts Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith a chance to stick together for one more year, with the 2026-27 season. Barkley mentioned that his succession plan when he was 60 was for Jamal Crawford and Jalen Rose — both former NBA players with a history with the show — to take over.
Earlier in the conversation with Simmons, Barkley mentioned that he wanted to cut down the amount of time he was on TV, noting that he hadn’t been on any ESPN programs since the end of the NBA season.
“The last thing you wanna be is on every show. I don’t want people to start getting sick of my face. I’m very strategic,” Barkley said.
In addition to revealing his retirement plans, Barkley also dropped that he met with both NBC and Amazon after TNT lost the NBA rights. Per Barkley, NBC offered him a deal, but he declined it.
Barkley joined “Inside the NBA” in 2000, with his brash commentary and dynamic with his fellow hosts helping drive the program’s popularity. The last TNT show for “Inside the NBA” happened in May 2025. It debuted on ESPN the following October, with Barkley calling the ability to join the network “an honor and a privilege.”
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