Basketball fans across the county were all saying the same thing after ‘Inside the NBA’ made it’s highly-anticipated return to TV screens.
The quartet of Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson Jr kicked off their new era on ESPN – after leaving TNT – on Wednesday evening.
There had been plenty of debate regarding how the show would look on a new network, with many fans concerned that too many changes would be made.
However, shortly after the show aired on Wednesday, fans rushed to social media to wax lyrical about the return of the program and, in particular, praised ESPN chiefs.
Many NBA fans were grateful that the layout and format of the show had remained largely identical to when it was on rival broadcaster TNT.
Taking to X, one fan wrote: ‘As much c**p as we give ESPN – some rightfully so – gotta give it to the network for leaving Inside the NBA exactly the same’.
‘Inside the NBA’ made it’s highly-anticipated return to TV screens on Wednesday night
The show – featuring Shaquille O’Neal (left), Ernie Johnson (center left), Kenny Smith (center right) and Charles Barkley (right) – had previously been broadcast on TNT
Another said: ‘Absolutely love the Inside the NBA on ESPN! It’s the same crew, studio and music as on TNT. They will be a much improved pre game show compared to what ESPN had last year for sure!’
Similarly, one wrote: ‘Perhaps the smartest move in network tv history, not changing a thing about inside the nba in the tnt to espn switch’.
‘It’s the exact same except with a ESPN logo on it. I didn’t even think that was allowed but it’s already miles better than what NBA Countdown had become for the past couple years,’ another wrote.
‘Glad inside the NBA remained the same [heart emoji]’, one passionate fan said.
However, one fan made note of how the panelists had previously critiqued ESPN and a number of the network’s personalities, prior to making their move.
The fan wrote: ‘@espn execs watching the fellas on #InsideTheNBA making fun of them on their own network’ while attaching a GIF alongside it.
Overall, however, fans were delighted to see the quarter return to their screens after fears it would go off the air once Warner Bros Discovery’s (WBD) rights deal with the NBA expired at the end of last season.
Fans rushed to social media to wax lyrical about the show, shortly after it aired on Wednesday
WBD lost out in a bidding war to keep their rights to the NBA over the past offseason – losing out as ESPN re-negotiated its deal and the league welcomed NBC and Amazon Prime Video as new rights-holders. This does not include TNT Sport in the UK, which acquired the rights to the NBA last season.
WBD announced plans last July to invoke a clause in its contract with the league, giving the company the right to match offers for future media rights – specifically trying to target the Amazon deal.
The NBA rejected WBD’s reported offer of $1.8billion per year, saying that the company was unable to fully match the terms of Amazon’s contract.
In response to being frozen out, WBD sued the league – arguing their billion-dollar offer matched the deal by Amazon. The lawsuit was later dropped.
