The NBA announced on July 24 that it had finalized a 11-year media rights agreement with Disney/ESPN, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video through the 2035-36 season. The news all but confirmed that the 19-time Emmy award-winning show “Inside the NBA” would end following the 2024-25 season.
Ahead of the popular show’s season finale, scores of fans on social media have been reminiscing over their favorite moments involving the TNT quartet of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley.
Here, we look back on some of the funniest moments in “Inside the NBA” history.
Dyngus Day
As is widely documented, “Inside the NBA” on TNT does not follow a script, allowing Johnson and Co. to improvise on the air. The formula produced a lot of unscripted banter over the years. As an example, in April 2019, the crew was in real-time educated about Dyngus Day, a Polish-American holiday celebrated the Monday after Easter.
As Johnson explained the customs and traditions behind the festival, his three colleagues couldn’t help but break into laughter.
Things escalated further when they learned that water guns are used by those celebrating Dyngus Day. Shaq proceeded to destroy Barkley in a water gunfight. Just another day in the “Inside the NBA” studio.
Barkley Vs. San Antonio Women
Barkley’s long-running feud with the women of San Antonio, including Tim Duncan’s girlfriend Vanessa Macias, began during the 2010 NBA Playoffs when he said “They ain’t got no skinny women down there” about the women of the city.
In June 2013, during the NBA Finals between the Spurs and Heat, Barkley once again poked fun at the “big ol’ women” of San Antonio.
In February 2014, he suggested that women in San Antonio eat a lot of churros.
The barbs continued in May 2014 when he called San Antonio a “gold mine for Weight Watchers.”
In many interviews, Barkley clarified his feud with Duncan’s girlfriend and other women in San Antonio was just good-natured ribbing. However, Turner executives intervened and stopped him from targeting them, per Barkley himself.
Patrick Beverley’s Celebration
On April 13, 2022, then-Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverley celebrated a play-in win like he had won the NBA Championship. Beverley was playing his former team, the Clippers, and the emotions of eliminating them from playoff contention were fully on display. He even shed a tear, creating a moment that became a social media meme.
The “Inside the NBA” crew cracked up while watching Beverley’s celebration, in large part because the Target Center in Minneapolis played Queen’s “We Are the Champions” because their team had ended a four-year playoff drought.
“Minnesota is going crazy right now,” Shaq said as the rest of the crew laughed.
Police Presence?
In January 2018, a locker room altercation broke out when Rockets players invaded the Clippers locker room at the Crypto.com Arena. On “Inside the NBA,” Ernie Johnson revealed that the incident required “police presence” on the scene. Almost immediately, Barkley and O’Neal broke into hysterics, sounding dumbfounded that law enforcement officials were needed to break up a fight between NBA players.
“Are you kidding me?” Barkley repeated while cracking up.
Durant Passing on Harden
During the 2022 NBA All-Star Draft Show, then-Nets star Kevin Durant had to pick either Rudy Gobert or James Harden with the final pick. Earlier that week, Harden requested a trade out of the Nets and got his wish, landing with the Sixers.
Just as Durant prepared to make his pick, the “Inside the NBA” crew subtly egged Durant to select Gobert over his former teammate.
“You need a big guy,” said Kenny Smith.
Durant did not disappoint them, picking Gobert over Harden. It triggered a hilarious reaction from his opponent LeBron James, who had to cover his face in laughter.
Unscripted Banter
In light of the imminent end of “Inside the NBA,” The Athletic’s David Aldridge penned down a column on July 19 explaining what made the show so different from all his experiences in media. Aldridge worked as an Insider for years on the TNT show.
“You felt like you knew Chuck and Shaq and Ernie and Kenny because their actual personalities, who they really were off-camera, came through so clearly on camera,” Aldridge wrote. “The show had some scripted elements to it, and Ernie did the best he could to keep the show on topic, but for the most part, every week, they went out there and … winged it. Barkley, Smith and Shaq never went to the production meetings before airtime. It was just four guys who actually enjoyed being in each other’s company, riffing off one another.”
Below are a few more of the funniest moments in “Inside the NBA” history.
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