With a bigger trip ahead, the “Inside the NBA” crew is remaining in Atlanta for the Eastern Conference Finals.
The TNT-produced “NBA Tip-Off” and “Inside the NBA” studio shows will remain in TNT’s Atlanta studios for ESPN coverage of the Cavaliers-Knicks NBA Eastern Conference Finals, marking just the third time that the shows will remain in-studio for a full conference final. The other two occurrences took place during the COVID years of 2020 and 2021.
The decision to stay in-studio was TNT’s prerogative, Sports Media Watch has learned. With the TNT studio crew traveling on-site for the NBA Finals, doing so for the conference finals as well could have meant potentially a full month on the road between Tuesday’s Game 1 and a potential Game 7 of the NBA Finals on June 19.
It is also in keeping with standard practice at TNT Sports, which has generally traveled on-site for the final round of its playoff run. The company’s NHL studio show will be on-site for that league’s Eastern Conference Final, which is the final round of its Stanley Cup playoff coverage this season.
The ESPN-produced “NBA Countdown” was on-site for last year’s Western Conference Finals, but historically the ESPN-produced show has not consistently hit the road for the conference finals. While the TNT shows will remain in Atlanta, ESPN’s “NBA Today” will be on-site from Cleveland and New York.
TNT Sports lost rights to the NBA after last season, but now licenses its NBA studio coverage to ESPN under a deal struck in November 2024. TNT has retained creative control of “Inside” and is the ultimate arbiter of its length, content and travel. That will extend to the on-site editions at the NBA Finals, SMW has learned.
The TNT-produced studio show has not been live from a full NBA Finals, and was last on-site from the event in 2009 — when NBA TV aired special editions after Game 3, 4 and 5 of Lakers-Magic. The show also aired a special preview edition live from Game 1 of the 2002 NBA Finals, with Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith later appearing on NBC’s halftime show that night.
