“Inside the NBA” will be on more often and more consistently in its second year on ESPN.
The TNT-produced NBA studio shows “NBA Tip-Off” and “Inside the NBA” will air on five additional NBA regular season dates, ESPN announced Thursday, bringing the total to 25.
The Atlanta-based studio show — which continues to feature host Ernie Johnson and analysts Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal — will air on the first five ESPN dates this season, the two Opening Week dates and then the next three Wednesays, before its first week off. Then, it will return for ESPN’s Thanksgiving Eve tripleheader — which it skipped last season — and ABC’s “NBA Saturday Primetime” premiere in December, before the usual Christmas Day quintupleheader.
The Christmas slate will be followed by five ESPN dates in January — January 6, 8, 13 and 22 — before ABC begins its regular weekend slate January 30. In all, there will be 13 dates before ABC begins its regular weekend coverage, up from five last season.
The show will also be on four times in the eight days before Super Bowl Sunday — February 6, 10, 12 and 13 — and again February 17, for a total of 19 dates before the All-Star break, nearly matching last year’s full season total of 20.
The back half of the season includes five shows in three-straight weeks from February 26-March 13 before the show goes on its NCAA men’s basketball tournament hiatus. It will then return for the regular season finale on April 11.
No schedule was announced for the playoffs, but “Tip-Off” and “Inside” aired adjacent to every NBA playoff game on ESPN/ABC last season, including going on-site for the NBA Finals.
Last year’s relatively sparse “Inside the NBA” schedule generated no shortage of criticism on social media and, as is customary, from Barkley himself — who said on “Inside” itself and in any number of interviews that he felt like the show was hardly on the air.
It is not clear how much longer “Inside the NBA” will remain on the air. Barkley has again been publicly saying he intends to retire after this season, and suggesting that Johnson will do the same. Regardless of what Barkley and Johnson choose to do, it is not clear how much, if at all, TNT Sports parent company Warner Bros. Discovery’s pending absorption into Paramount will impact production of the show or its licensing agreement with ESPN.
