With NBA deal expiring, TNT Sports bids emotional sign-off after Knicks-Pacers
June 1, 2025
Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals marked more than the end of the Knicks’ season.
It also marked the end of an era for TNT Sports.
Saturday night’s 125-108 win by the Indiana Pacers was the final game broadcast by TNT, whose TV deal with the NBA is set to expire.
The rights to air NBA games in the U.S. will belong to ESPN/ABC; NBC Sports/Peacock; and Amazon Prime Video next season and beyond.
Longtime “Inside the NBA” host Ernie Johnson choked back tears Saturday as he signed off on behalf of TNT for the last time.
“If I had written the script, the NBA and TNT would be together forever,” Johnson said during the postgame show from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. “It’s not gonna happen. But while I was disappointed and I was sad, I was not bitter. We know how business works. Gratitude is the operative word for me.”
TNT began broadcasting NBA games in 1989, the same year it launched its “Inside the NBA” studio show.
Next season, “Inside the NBA” will move to ESPN/ABC, with the panel of Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal remaining intact.
The Emmy-winning “Inside the NBA” has featured that same lineup since 2011, when O’Neal joined the show, and is renowned for its blend of analysis and humor.
“Even though the name changes, the engine is still the same,” O’Neal said during Saturday’s postgame show. “And to that new network we’re coming to, we’re not coming to eff round. And since it’s the last show, I’m gonna say it: We’re not coming to f— around. … We’re taking over, OK? I love you guys and I appreciate you guys.”
ESPN holds the rights to the NBA Finals, making the Eastern Conference Finals the last assignment for TNT.
Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Stan Van Gundy and Allie LaForce called the series between the Knicks and Pacers.
“I’m very fortunate,” Miller said Saturday. “I’ve only known two things: 18 years with one franchise in this building with the Indiana Pacers, and 19 years with Turner.”
Harlan and Van Gundy are set to call NBA games for Amazon next season, while Miller is going to NBC.
TNT Sports initially tried to flex a provision in its contract to match one of the other networks’ offers — reportedly Amazon’s. But TNT Sports’ parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, later agreed to an 11-year contract with the NBA that will allow the network to create, produce and distribute NBA content and to broadcast games outside of the U.S.
That agreement paved the way for TNT Sports to continue to produce “Inside the NBA” through a partnership with ESPN.
A live audience at Gainbridge Fieldhouse chanted “TNT” as Johnson, Barkley, Smith and O’Neal bid farewell.
“I just want to thank every single person who’s been at Turner with me the last 25 years,” Barkley said Saturday. “Twenty. Five. Years. … If you’re with people that long, they are your family.”
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