To absolutely no one's surprise, it looks like Charles Barkley is like . Barkley was . His telling us that he was retiring felt like something between a lash-out in frustration about the situation and a shrewd negotiating tactic.
But, the reality is he was almost certainly never going to leave. Barkley is just two years into 10-year, $210 million deal with TNT and is one of the highest paid media personalities in sports. He's not going anywhere.
So, if he's sticking around, what will Barkley do on TNT without the NBA? There are a few good answers already out there. Let's dig into them. Charles Barkley has always been a fixture in TNT's college basketball coverage for March Madness.
Sure, his and . But he also still gives that . He can do that a bit more with the college basketball team when the fall comes around, even if the NBA isn't around anymore.
TNT has a presence in hockey now with NHL games broadcasting on its network on Wednesdays. Charles Barkley seems to have a blast talking about hockey. Here he is talking to the TNT crew about the Stanley Cup final.
It's pretty good! I don't know if he can do this all the time, but I definitely wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of it. Like the NHL, I wouldn't say Charles Barkley is a golf aficionado by any stretch of the imagination. I wouldn't want to hear him on The Masters main broadcast or anything of that nature.
But when TNT does special events like it'd be great to hear Barkley bringing a bit of levity to the broadcast and ha.