The cast of TNT\u2019s Inside the NBA will begrudingly be on ESPN programming at the start of the 2025-26 season, finally completing a plan laid out by former ESPN President John Skipper years ago in attempting to acquire the likes of Charles Barkley and Shaquille O\u2019Neal.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neal and Barkley have both been incredibly candid about their respective distaste for ESPN in the past, blasting the network<\/a> and throwing subtle jabs at numerous ESPN personalities<\/a> on several occasions.<\/p>\n According to Skipper, he had previously tried to lure both Barkley and O\u2019Neal away from Turner in the past, failing to do so because Turner largely paid both Barkley and O\u2019Neal more than ESPN was willing to pay them for far less work.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t want special contributors,\u201d said Skipper during an appearance on Friday\u2019s edition of the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast<\/a>. \u201cWe weren\u2019t looking for headlines. We were looking for people to work. And it was frequently why I couldn\u2019t get the best talent into ESPN. Mr. Barkley was the best in the business. But he just complained the other day. This was in the news the other day. Charles Barkley \u2018Don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to get me into the ESPN carwash. I\u2019m not doing that. I\u2019m not doing SportsCenter. Nobody is gonna tell me what to do.\u2019 Yes, we had lots of people we wanted to get that we couldn\u2019t get. At the time, we were kind of cheap. We paid lower scale because we had a lot of people.<\/p>\n \u201cI tried very hard to get Shaq when he was available. Tried to convince him that it could be his show on ESPN. He wouldn\u2019t be the second fiddle to Charles Barkley. And David Levy, a good friend of mine, went to him and said \u2018I\u2019m going to pay you as much, probably more than John Skipper will. And you won\u2019t have to do anything except show up, start talking, and that\u2019s all you have to do.\u2019 With Shaq, he was very funny about it. I ran into him one time and he said \u2018I wasn\u2019t gonna come over there. You were gonna put me up (on SportsCenter).\u2019 And he was right. We gave him an offer, and it included SportsCenter appearances. It included whatever the early morning show was appearances. You know, postgame, pregame. You gotta show up and you gotta rehearse. He said, \u2018Why would I do that?\u2019 By the way, he was right.\u201d<\/p>\n Former president of ESPN John Skipper explains why Shaq turned down an offer from ESPN for his own show. \ud83d\udc40<\/p>\n \u201cI tried very hard to get Shaq when he was available \u2014 tried to convince him that it would be HIS show on ESPN; he wouldn\u2019t be the second fiddle to Charles Barkley.\u201d pic.twitter.com\/jUgLUGwZdp<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) May 16, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Knowing what we know about Barkley and O\u2019Neal, it truly is hard to picture either one of them on a show like SportsCenter\u00a0given the kind of comedic and free-flowing style that they thrive in on Inside the NBA. O\u2019Neal largely said exactly that in the past when discussing his decision not to leave for ESPN<\/a>, saying that his \u201cworst day at Turner would be a good day\u201d, while his \u201cworst day at ESPN would cause me to get fired\u201d.<\/p>\n Both Barkley and O\u2019Neal have made it clear since news of the move to ESPN was made official that neither plans on appearing on ESPN programming outside of Inside the NBA<\/a>, which will still be produced by TNT. So in a sense, Skipper still won\u2019t exactly get to see exactly what he had envisioned for either Hall of Famer at his former network.<\/p>\n \t