Ahead of what will almost certainly be the final season of the NBA on TNT, Tim Kiely is coming out of retirement to helm the network’s acclaimed studio coverage.
Kiely has rejoined TNT Sports as the vice president and executive producer of its NBA studio coverage, it was announced Monday, returning to the company after retiring last year. In his previous stint with the company once known as Turner Sports, Kiely was executive producer of production, overseeing not just the NBA show but other Turner studio programming.
TNT is entering what will almost certainly be its final season carrying NBA games after being left out of the new NBA media rights deals. Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is currently suing the NBA after the league denied its bid to match Amazon for one of the league’s new deals, but that process is not expected to result in anything more than a financial settlement, if even that.
It is unclear whether Kiely is returning for a valedictory final season of “Inside the NBA” or if there is a longer-term plan in store. Warner Bros. Discovery in the offseason secured a commitment from Barkley to work exclusively for the company beyond the expiration of its NBA rights deal, and there has been some reporting that TNT is considering an all-sports alternative to “Inside the NBA.” In that scenario, Kiely could steer the studio show during its transition to a new format.
There was initially some suggestion that the “Inside the NBA” team could continue covering the NBA together for one of the new rights partners — specifically Amazon — though that possibility would seem to have faded as Barkley first announced plan to retire from broadcasting and then committed to TNT. In the event that such a prospect becomes realistic, Kiely could also serve as a bridge between the TNT era and one on another network.
