NBA
Shaq excited on new Inside the NBA show: ‘You can never kill the four horsemen’
Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.
All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated22 hours ago on May 30, 2025
The end of the 2025 Eastern Conference finals between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers won’t only decide the next NBA finalist, as it also means the end of TNT’s version of their hit show Inside the NBA. However, the program will continue next season with the same hosts.
As TNT lost their media rights to broadcast the basketball league starting the 2025-26 campaign, Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley will carry on covering the NBA on ESPN. After Thursday’s Game 5, Shaq showed plenty of enthusiasm towards the future.
Just as they were signalling off what could be their final pregame episode, the Lakers icon promised viewers that the show will overcome expectations next season. “Yes, it is the ending of Inside the NBA on TNT,” said Shaq at the Madison Square Garden. “But it’s the new beginning for us.”
“I’m glad we’re still together on whatever network we go to, and whatever network we comin’ to, we’re bringing the pain. I’m just letting you know right now. I know everybody’s sad, ‘Oh it ain’t gonna be the show,’ the show is still here baby. You can never kill the four horseman,” the Hall of Famer said.
Even though ESPN has stated many times that Inside the NBA won’t change much for this upcoming campaign, not everyone is too happy about this. One of them is none other than star of the show Kenny Smith, who is convinced that the program will definitely turn out different.
While TNT Sports will retain editorial control over the show, Kenny revealed why he isn’t entirely happy about the move. “We have the same crew of people doing the show. But the timing: are we a half hour now? Are we forty-five minutes? Fifteen minutes?” he told The New Yorker last week.
“Those are the things that you can control when you own your I.P. But we don’t,” he added. “That was the only part that made me uncomfortable and disheartened, because I felt that the four of us should have went into ABC to negotiate that deal. I’m not saying that our executives don’t know how to do that, but we are the I.P. now.”
