{"id":870805,"date":"2026-10-29T12:15:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T12:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/870805\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T12:15:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T12:15:28","slug":"ernie-johnson-is-leaving-inside-the-nba-after-37-years-its-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/870805\/","title":{"rendered":"Ernie Johnson is leaving ‘Inside the NBA’ ‘after 37 years. ‘It’s time’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ernie Johnson, the bow-tie-wearing, peace-keeping host of \u201cInside the NBA<\/a>,\u201d is leaving the show after 37 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just time,\u201d the 70-year-old broadcaster said in a video<\/a> posted Wednesday on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo why now? Total honesty here. I\u2019ve always prided myself on my preparation, the hours I put in every day getting ready for the next show. I\u2019ve always loved that part of my job, but I\u2019ve always vowed that if that ever became more of a challenge than it is a joy, then I\u2019ll know it\u2019s time to step away. And now, after 37 seasons, it\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInside the NBA\u201d started on TNT in 1989, and Johnson became host the following season. Over the years, he was joined by analysts Kenny Smith (1998), Charles Barkley<\/a> (2000) and Shaquille O\u2019Neal<\/a> (2011) in a lineup that has become beloved to generations of basketball fans \u2014 so much so that the show switched over to ESPN<\/a> when TNT lost its NBA rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cFew people have shaped the way fans experience the NBA as profoundly as Ernie Johnson,\u201d NBA commissioner Adam Silver said<\/a> in a statement. \u201cHis brilliance as a broadcaster is matched by his character, compassion and generosity, which have been evident throughout his 37 years as host of \u2018Inside the NBA.\u2019 We are grateful for Ernie\u2019s extraordinary impact on our league and look forward to celebrating him during his final season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson repeated his announcement to open the crew\u2019s appearance on ESPN\u2019s \u201cNBA Tip-Off\u201d on Wednesday, then asked a clearly emotional Barkley how he was doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was tough,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cWe knew the day was coming \u2014 still tough. Been here for 26, 27 years, and it\u2019s been an honor and a privilege to work with you all this time, and Kenny and Shaq and the amazing people behind the scenes. …<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an amazing journey. You\u2019ve been our leader. Our unquestionable leader. The question I\u2019m asked the most \u2026 is, is Ernie Johnson as good a person as he seems? And I say, man, he\u2019s better than that. So I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being our leader for all these years. \u2026 All I can say, Ernie, is thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith gave Johnson a standing ovation, and O\u2019Neal said Johnson was the reason he joined the crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are the controller of this thing people call the circus \u2014 the best circus in town, but without you, it\u2019s going to be very, very difficult,\u201d O\u2019Neal said. \u201cChuck made a great point. All we can say is thank you, and we appreciate you. We\u2019re gonna miss you, and we will see you around, but thanks for the great run.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a video posted on X, Golden State Warriors forward and frequent \u201cInside the NBA\u201d guest Draymond Green perfectly summed up Johnson\u2019s role on the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is the best point guard I\u2019ve ever played with \u2014 that\u2019s no disrespect to the great Steph Curry,\u201d Green said<\/a> in a video posted Wednesday on X. \u201cErnie Johnson on a set is as incredible as they come. He sees everything. He\u2019s like, \u2018Man, this guy hasn\u2019t spoke for a while. Let me toss it to him. Man, this conversation is going off the rails a little bit\u2019 \u2014 as it can on that show \u2014 \u2018let me rein it back in.\u2019 … This guy is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson also shared that he\u2019s been dealing with \u201cheart issues\u201d for almost two years, including undergoing bypass surgery two months ago, and that it was a \u201ccontributing factor\u201d in his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill trying to get this thing to beat exactly the way it should, and we\u2019re getting it,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI mean, I feel great. So this isn\u2019t a case where my doctor said you need to stop working. It\u2019s nothing like that. But here\u2019s the deal: Going through that has made me treasure even more every second with my amazing wife of 44 years, Cheryl Ann, and being Poppy to our five grandchildren. So I just want to slow down a bit, spend more time enjoying that. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust to be clear, I\u2019m not retiring; just cutting back. I\u2019ll still do March Madness and other projects for TNT and CBS, and I\u2019ve just started a new production company called 32 Bowties<\/a>, geared toward telling feel-good stories in sports. So this is by no means the end. It\u2019s just a turning of the page.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ernie Johnson, the bow-tie-wearing, peace-keeping host of \u201cInside the NBA,\u201d is leaving the show after 37 years. \u201cIt\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,20879,2212,130,22304,1029,6,102055,1302,1597,1141,790,69,102056,2877,702],"class_list":["post-870805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-crew","tag-ernie-johnson","tag-espn","tag-leader","tag-man","tag-nba","tag-peace-keeping-host","tag-shaquille-oneal","tag-show","tag-time","tag-tnt","tag-video","tag-way-fan","tag-wednesday","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117524150589627189","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}