Ernie Johnson after ESPN acquired the rights to Inside the NBA: “Let’s enjoy this, they can’t get rid of us.”

45 comments

  1. Is he part of the group next year, I heard SAS is gonna replace him any Confirmation?

  2. Inside is basically finished under Big Mickey. Were never hearing about the ladies in San Antonio again and theyll somehow shove SAS into it.

  6. Excited to see 45 seconds of inside the nba coverage during halftimes now. It doesn’t matter what the halftime show is on ESPN is so absurdly short it can’t be good.

  9. I’m more glad that it’s still produced by TNT and it’s only being aired on ESPN. They kept people’s jobs and that’s cool. The Inside Crew has enough stroke to not be pushed by ESPN and EJ is a complete class act.

  11. If ESPN cuts Shaq I will forgive them for all their shitt ways. Chuck Ernie and Kenny deserve a final arc without having to pretend shaqtin a fool is still funny every night

  12. I’m sure they know ESPN is going to be the end of them.  Sounds like a funeral/nobody is happy about the ESPN buyout.  Inside the NBA is going to be the LeBron Show and I’m sure they’re going to find a way to get Stephen A and Perkins in there.

  13. I see people say ESPN is going to ruin it, but it’s important to remember they have ZERO creative control. They are licensing the show from TNT. That’s it. Can they ask Chuck to not do something? Sure. But they can’t make them do anything. They license Pat McAfee’s show and they haven’t chanted a thing.

    I do think it’s weird that ESPN has not told them anything about what this is going to look like according to Chuck and Kenny.

  14. Hopefully ESPN doesn’t destroy this. I would love to think this means less Stephen A during basketball but I’m sure ESPN will figure out how to annoy its viewers to the maximum.

  15. Mickey is going to get his dirty claws into this show and add 75% more commercials, Draymond, SAS, Perkins… and then I’ll never watch another NBA postgame again

  18. Wait so all that bullshit this year about Inside the NBA ending was all for nothing? The multiple features they would play during segments. Literally stopping the all star game to give them fake rings. Social media videos of the crew all crying while Shaq gives a search. That was all for nothing because the show and the crew are staying exactly as they were? lol

  19. Ernie is such a good dude and just a voice of reason in a crazy space (and crazy times).

    As someone hitting his middle-age, I just aspire to be as level-headed and understanding as he is. If I can have a fraction of the impact he’s had on the world, that would be cool too.

  20. I love Ernie. I sort of wish he had his own show. It seems like Chuck hates basketball now. The show is not as fun to me lately. Ernie deserves better.

  21. Can’t wait for ESPN to come back from commercial to show Kenny racing to the big screen, only for them to immediately go to another commercial break.

  22. It’s only a good NBA program compared to the garbage ESPN has been pushing for 20+ years.

  24. Wait so what was the farewell during all star game for? Just for the fact that it’s no longer on TNT?

  25. Next season could be extremely lit. NBC is back, we got Mike coming back, and these dudes.

  28. My biggest fear is the looming Countdown connections.
    And of course Chuck’s famous “Not gonna work me like a dog.” rant which is funny in hindsight.

  31. I know this is about ESPN but can anyone tell if next year there will be playoff games and maybe a finals game that we can’t watch unless we have Peacock or prime?

  33. Wait wait wait, is that Legendary Producer Tim Keily? What happened to the retirement and how long has he been back now?

  34. Ernie is so much better than anyone at ESPN and the only shame is that he will, at some point, have to welcome SAS and Perk which is WAY below his reputation.

  35. I really hope that’s true and ESPN just sits back and let’s them cook. I’m so scared they are going to f**k with the chemistry of the show somehow, like have Stephen A or Kendrick Perkins as a permanent member or something stupid like that.

  36. Ignoring the NBA, just from an employer perspective, this is rad. I and my friends have ended up in so many uncertain or stressful workplace situations and the man-children in charge can’t even be bothered to address their employees honestly, even if they’re uncertain too. Nice to see.

  38. Don’t expect this to last forever, people. I can totally see him retiring after a year.

  39. It’s going to be so weird how they position this. They have to totally revamp ESPN’s NBA coverage to fit Inside.

    The pre-game show won’t have to change much. It’s a typical pre-game format.

    Halftime though is going to be weird. ESPN literally shows like 95% commercials during halftime and ~30 seconds of someone saying something quickly before going back to commercials. You can’t really do that without ruining Inside.

    Then the post game show is so different. Inside usually goes until a random time. That’s part of the charm of the show. It’s why it’s worth watching even after blowouts. ESPN doesn’t have traditional postgame shows, they always go right to Sportscenter with SVP. He’ll cover the game (whether that’s NBA, Monday Night Football or whatever) but it’s still Sportscenter not a postgame show.

    I don’t really trust that ESPN will totally commit to the Inside style. Unless ESPN has the same format and then ESPN 2 has an “Inside” simulcast. It’ll be the same broadcast, just with their postgame show instead of SVP.

  40. They only have a 1 year contract. Give them a 20 year deal and I’ll watch every episode you cowards.

  41. EJ the realest though. That dude has swagger I can’t even imagine. Carte blanche personified.

  42. the ESPN show is just such trash. Too many actively-annoying people like Smith and Perkins. The TNT show plays like a comedy and the production team recognizes that.

  43. I love that the show has been preserved, even if Shaq ruined the show many years ago. Ernie seems like a great guy

  45. The laugh after “now get back to fucking work” is how you know you work somewhere awesome

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