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Charles Barkley sets ‘Inside the NBA’ retirement date, reveals Ernie Johnson’s plans
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- Charles Barkley sets ‘Inside the NBA’ retirement date, reveals Ernie Johnson’s plans
This upcoming NBA season will be the last for Charles Barkley - and Ernie Johnson - on "Inside the NBA."
The former NBA star revealed the decision during an appearance on "The Bill Simmons Podcast."
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"Me and Ernie are a package deal," Barkley said. "So right now, unless Ernie changes his mind, next year is my last year 100 percent."
According to Barkley, the retirement timeline was part of an agreement Johnson, 70, made after ESPN got the rights to "Inside the NBA."
Barkely was outspoken about the future of the show after TNT Sports lost NBA broadcast rights and licensed the show to ESPN.
The former Auburn star, 63, said in 2021 he was going to retire at 60.
"If you crack a joke the wrong way, they're like, 'Oh, no, no, no, you crossed the line,'" Barkley said back then . "I mean, they won't even let me talk about San Antonio anymore when I'm always talking about their big ole women down in San Antonio. They're like, 'Charles, we got one lady (who) wrote an article.' I'm like, 'First of all, I didn't call anybody personally fat in San Antonio; I was just joking around.'
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"We've been having fun with this for probably 10–15 years. We go to San Antonio; the people are having a blast with it. The people in San Antonio had T-shirts made up."
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Barkley revisted the idea of retiring at 60.
"I told TNT I was going to retire at 60. And they were like, 'Oh, he's full of sh-t. He's not gonna retire,'" Barkley recalled this week.
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"So we come up, I said, 'Hey guys, it's my last year.' They're like, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'I told y'all six years ago I was gonna retire at 60.' They're like, ' You were serious?' I said, 'Yeah, I was serious.' Then they said to me, 'Do us a favor. Stay two more years, 'til we get the new deal.' I talked it over with my friends. I said, 'OK, I'll tell you what. I'll stay 'til 62,' which was last year … little did I know these f--king idiots was gonna lose the NBA."
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