TNT NBA host Ernie Johnson is not expected to leave his longtime employer in the event it loses rights to the NBA, per a report Thursday.
Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal reported Thursday that Johnson is expected to remain with Warner Bros. Discovery in the event that the company loses rights to the NBA. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Comcast is willing to bid upwards of $2.5 billion/year to acquire the NBA rights currently held by WBD, which is paying $1.2 billion/year through the end of next season.
Johnson has been with TNT Sports — previously known as Turner Sports — since 1989 and has served as its primary NBA studio host since 1990. Per SBJ, Johnson would “likely” continue to host NCAA men’s basketball tournament coverage for TNT and CBS and return to MLB play-by-play.
It is not clear whether Johnson would have to leave TNT in order to continue covering the NBA. Amazon, which is widely expected to acquire an NBA package in the new rights deal, employs broadcasters from rival networks on its Thursday Night Football coverage — Charissa Thompson of Fox Sports and Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN.
Bob Costas did not follow the NBA to ESPN when NBC lost rights in 2002 — though ESPN did pursue him and was willing to let him continue covering the Olympics for NBC — and Brent Musburger had already been fired by CBS by the time the network’s 17-year run with the NBA ended in 1990. Neither covered the NBA for as many years as Johnson.
Since the WSJ report of Comcast’s bid broke on Monday, much of the subsequent discussion has concerned the fate of TNT’s much-praised studio show “Inside the NBA” and its quartet of Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith. Barkley said in a radio interview this week that his ten-year contract has an opt-out in the event that WBD loses NBA rights, which was publicly known when that deal was announced last year.
