Charles Barkley Says He Gave Up At Least $100 Million By Returning To TNT Instead Of Joining Another Network

ByJoey Heldon August 20, 2024inArticles›Sports News

It’s hard to imagine a world where Charles Barkley is not on TNT’s Inside the NBA . The Hall of Famer retired from the NBA in 2000 and joined the show starting with the 2000-01 season. Though Ernie Johnson had been hosting since 1990, recurring analyst spots were rare. By 2000, Kenny Smith had only been an analyst for a couple of seasons, and we were still over a decade away from Shaquille O’Neal joining the crew.

Barkley ultimately decided to return to TNT for the 2024-25 season. In doing so he says he gave up " a minimum of $100 million. "

Charles Barkley Says He Gave Up At Least $100 Million By Returning To TNT Instead Of Joining Another Network - 1

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Current Contract & Salary

Giving Up $100 Million

Barkley recently joined The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz . The conversation turned to Barkley’s career and potentially moving to a different network. Barkley said it was “humbling and cool” to be highly desired, with “crazy numbers” thrown his way, but he had another priority.

" The number one thing for me is that my people at Turner get to keep their jobs another year. That’s all I was concerned with. "

He also expressed gratitude toward TNT for letting him be himself.

" They’re going to pay me to go talk about nothing, so I can’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I probably would have had to do an honest day’s work if I went to one of those other networks. "

Here’s the full clip of Barkley with LeBatard:

How much did Charles Barkley lose by returning to TNT? “A minimum of $100 million. A minimum.” Barkley explains why he chose to return to Turner Sports as a broadcasting free agent. “The number-one thing for me is that my people at Turner get to keep their jobs another year.” pic.twitter.com/lGLZgg4nFZ — Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) August 13, 2024

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