We all knew it was coming… For over a year, the writing had been on the wall that TNT and the NBA were parting ways. But reality hit hard as the legendary ‘Inside the NBA’ crew took their seats for the final time. Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson reminisced about all their happy moments and late-night banter, but then, Johnson delivered one of his most beautifully crafted speeches regarding the show’s legacy of three and a half decades coming to an end.

The 68-year-old choked while speaking his heart out, “One of the most gratifying things about the whole process is this we start the NBA on TNT back then in 89, and then we became synonymous with the league. For the fans out there who they think NBA and they think NBA on TNT. That’s why it hurts tonight. To know that’s gone after this next playoff run and that’s the business of basketball, I guess.” The show will still run due to a syndication deal with ESPN, but Thursday’s broadcast was the last time viewers would see this particular TNT team show its magic.

The shows will be a part of ESPN from next season, following the Walt Disney Company’s renewal of its NBA media rights deal (11 years). So it will start from the 2025-26 season and run through the 2035-36 season, and so Disney will be the NBA’s primary media rights partner.

So Johnson’s words didn’t just sum up the history of the show; they captured the bond it built with basketball fans. For Ernie Johnson, it was definitely more than just a show, and for fans, TNT and the NBA were practically a package deal. Then there was another side to the moment. “But I will say this: No time for bitterness. It is time for appreciation. It’s time for gratitude. And it has been my pleasure to be one of your coworkers, one of your teammates, and a part of this family. Love you,” he stated, as per ‘House of Highlights’ on YouTube. Similarly, his studio partners also had some emotional words to share.

For instance, Charles Barkley revealed how they were lucky to be on the show and how they would refer to Johnson as ‘The Godfather’. The crowd present then cheered and chanted, “Ernie, Ernie!”

TNT has been a long-time partner of the league, but when they couldn’t match the terms offered by Amazon, things took a turn. The situation even escalated to the courtroom, with TNT’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, reportedly suing NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the league officials, accusing them of misinterpreting the contract’s language. It’s not just the chaos that Ernie Johnson was probably pointing to with his message, but also the harsh truth of the job losses that come with it. However, he didn’t want to bring that up at that moment. So, in a way, he saved Silver.

NBA rights loss turns out to be costly for TNT employees…

All the focus has been on the NBA’s big new 11-year deal with Amazon, NBC, and ESPN running through the 2035-36 season. The Inside the NBA crew? Looks like they’ll be settled as their show will air on ESPN and ABC, but what about the employees behind the scenes? The ones who’ve kept the show running all these years? Not everyone gets to follow the stars to a new media house. The NBA’s decision has just turned their lives upside down.

Over a hundred employees are losing their jobs. And Adam Silver? He said he felt for them. “I will say directly from me the people that seem to be most impacted right now — the folks at Turner Sports — I apologize that this has been a prolonged process,” he said last year during the first game of the NBA Finals series, according to The Athletic. He even claimed that he has a close relationship with Ernie Johnson and Co., but also mentioned that he understands the pain of the TNT employees.

“It’s not just the (on-air) talent, of course. I mean, there are hundreds of people who are involved with what I still refer to as Turner Sports, who’ve been longtime friends and colleagues, and no different at the other networks,” Silver added. But at the end of the day, it all boils down to the business side. And that’s the part that stings the most. What do you think?