The most interesting potential free agent target in the NBA might be a 61-year-old who retired nearly 25 years ago.
TNT Sports analyst Charles Barkley told The Athletic on Friday that he would listen to NBA partners ESPN/Disney, NBC and Amazon if the remainder of his current 10-year contract with the cable network is not honored. TNT Sports lost out on the NBA in the league’s recently announced 11-year, $76 billion rights agreement.
“My deal is 10 years, $210 million,” Barkley told The Athletic. “[TNT Sports] has to come to me ASAP and they have to guarantee my whole thing or they can offer me a pay cut, which there is no chance of that happening and I’ll be [a] free agent.
“My thing was, ‘Wait, y’all f—ed up, I didn’t f— up, why do I have to take a pay cut?'”
During the NBA Finals, with it a known possibility that TNT Sports might lose its media rights, Barkley said he would retire if he found himself out of a job. He still has seven years remaining on his deal. Barkley has been a part of TNT Sports’ flagship “Inside the NBA” show since 2000 and is part of a primary four-man crew along with host Ernie Johnson and fellow former NBA players Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.
Barkley said that retirement is still the likely option after TNT’s upcoming final season broadcasting the NBA but that he would be “stupid” not to listen to offers from other networks.
“But from a compensation standpoint, I said, ‘I will sit down and see what y’all are going to have going forward,'” Barkley told The Athletic. “I’ve been straight honest with all the companies.”
Barkley’s comments came on the same day that TNT Sports’ parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, filed a lawsuit against the NBA for rejecting its matching bid for a share of the league’s media rights.
Barkley said he was against the company suing the NBA.
“The NBA clearly wanted to break up with us. I don’t want to be in a relationship where I have to sue somebody to be in it. That makes zero sense,” Barkley told The Athletic. “If you have to sue somebody to stay in a relationship, do you think that is a healthy relationship?”
Warner Bros. Discovery previously said that it had matched Amazon’s offer at $1.8 billion per year but that the league declined to accept.
“Clearly the NBA has wanted to break up with us from the beginning. I’m not sure TNT ever had a chance,” Barkley said in a statement. “TNT matched the money, but the league knows Amazon and these tech companies are the only ones willing to pay for the rights when they double in the future. The NBA didn’t want to piss them off. It’s a sad day when owners and commissioners choose money over the fans. It just sucks.”
