Charles Barkley insists the NBA’s impending move to ESPN will not change anything about the way he behaves… and he’s more than willing to be fired for airing his views.
The NBA icon is set to join his ‘Inside the NBA’ colleagues in their move from TNT to ESPN next season, but will not be holding back on the stricter network.
Instead, Barkley is even calling ESPN’s bluff and daring them to fire him before he’s even made his first appearance on air.
‘I’m not going to change my personality,’ he told Outkick when asked whether anything would change next season.
‘They can’t fire me! I make too much money to get fired. So, they can’t fire me. First of all, if they fire me, they got to pay me for seven years, and I’m going to quit way before then.
‘But if they want to fire me, I would love for them to do that. The only decision we’ve been making is how long I’m going to work… I’m not worried about getting fired. And nobody at ESPN is going to tell me what to say or do. Period.’
Charles Barkley has hit out at ESPN and dared them to fire him before he’s even begun on air
Barkley has been a long-time host of ‘Inside the NBA’, which is moving away from TNT Sports
Barkley is a long-time host on ‘Inside the NBA’, which will be moving from TNT Sports to ESPN after the latter bought the rights to show the NBA.
The ex-NBA MVP and 11-time All-Star is said to have signed a 10-year, $210m contract to be an analyst on the iconic NBA show back in 2022, and therefore has plenty of years left to go.
ESPN has plenty of other shows that will likely be desperate to have Barkley on them, including First Take, Get Up and The Pat McAfee Show, but it appears he has no intention of doing more than he’s contracted to do.
‘Nobody’s going to tell me what to say, or what to do. I get upset. [ESPN] is like, “The Lakers are contenders.” I’m like, “No, they’re not.” They know they’re not contenders.’
Barkley poured cold water on his chances of appearing on the likes of ESPN’s Sportscenter
He even took aim at a soon-to-be ESPN colleague, noting: ‘Kendrick Perkins, who don’t know his ass from a hole in the wall, he’s like, “The Lakers are contenders. The Lakers are contenders.”
‘And I said, “They’re not contenders.” And, clearly, if you lose in the first round [of the playoffs], you aren’t a contender.’
Barkley has been very outspoken about TNT’s loss of the rights to show the NBA, initially claiming he was going to retire after the news was announced.
He then U-turned ‘to make sure the people I love and work with for the last 25 years got a job’.
