Charles Barkley on TNT’s NBA Loss: ‘It Was One of the Worst Kept Secrets in the History of Civilization’

Charles Barkley: “Have the international teams gotten better? 100%. They’re still not better than the United States. Take Joker, Giannis, Luka out of the picture. All three guys are great, great players. Shai’s great too. But we still have the next 10 best players in every game. Nobody brings somebody off the bench better than Jayson Tatum. Nobody brings somebody off the bench better than Kevin Durant. The international teams have gotten better, but there’s never an excuse for the United States not to win the gold medal. We have the best team. We have the best players by far. (…) Listen, if they lose, we can’t let them back in the country. We can’t. I told them they can’t come back.” -via YouTube / August 5, 2024

“Do you think anyone will ever be able to replicate the success and popularity of the NBA on TNT? CHARLES BARKLEY: Good question. I don’t know if anyone gives it a shot, to be honest with you. You know, ESPN, which I love, they never give anyone a chance to have any chemistry. They just throw stuff at the wall, like let’s put this group together, and they do it for six months to a year, and then they say, it didn’t work. Well, you didn’t give it a chance to work.” -via YouTube / August 5, 2024

Because I thought I read something where TNT was taking some kind of legal action where they did match the offer and they should have the right to extend the deal. Is there any truth to that?” CHARLES BARKLEY: “So we did file a lawsuit, but my opinion, and I’m just talking nonsense, I want to make this clear. My opinion, and Adam Silver is brilliant, I don’t think he would put himself in that situation, to be honest with you. I think what happens, like I said, I’m just talking nonsense, I think the NBA said you can match the offer, but they meant ESPN or NBC, you can’t match Amazon’s offer.” -via YouTube / August 5, 2024