TNT announced plans to take legal action against the NBA after the NBA announced a new 11-year media rights deal. Behind the scenes of the NBA Analyst Charles Barkley appears to be on the other side of this battle.
Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns TNT, released a statement on Friday alleging that the league violated its media rights agreement with TNT by rejecting TNT's offer and instead signing with Amazon Prime Video. Warner has since filed a breach of contract lawsuit and appears headed for a tense legal battle with the league.
Barkley, who issued a statement early Friday morning criticizing the NBA for putting money above fans, seemed reluctant to wade into murky legal issues.
“I don't want them to sue,” Barkley told Andrew Marchand. Athletic“The NBA obviously wanted to break up with us. I don't want to be in a relationship where the only way to maintain it is to sue somebody. That doesn't make any sense. If the only way to maintain it is to sue somebody, do you think that's a healthy relationship?”
Earlier this week, the NBA inked new media rights deals worth $77 billion with NBCUniversal, the Walt Disney Co. (which owns ESPN and ABC) and Amazon Prime Video.
As things stand, TNT will lose NBA media rights after the 2025-26 season, marking the final series of the iconic and widely beloved sports show. Behind the scenes of the NBA.
The 61-year-old Barkley is in the third year of a 10-year, $210 million contract and is reportedly in negotiations with ESPN, NBC and Amazon about his future free agent status, but he has said he plans to retire during the NBA Finals and reiterated that view on Friday, assuming TNT pays his full signing bonus.
“Right now, I'm planning on retiring,” Barkley said. “I'm not looking to do anything.”
