Those who grew up watching Shaquille O’Neal on TNT’s Inside the NBA are shocked that the show will no longer be part of the cultureal zeitgeist. The big man was one of the victims that came out of Amazon buying the rights for the league and won the bidding war against TNT Sports despite they made the same offer. TNT executives still mainting that this offer violated the contract agreement of TNT having a chance to amtch any offer from the outside. If this was the case, there might still be a chance TNT Sports may keep the rights after all. Shaquille O’Neal does seem like he is betting on that to be the outcome. However, he won’t really jump on one side of the fance or the other.
Shaq says his piece about Inside the NBA’s last season
The Inside the NBA crew will have one more season of laughs and analysis only to be completely shut down by the end of it. During the latest Pat McAfee show, Shaq said: “We have one more year left. So I am a consummate professional, so I’m not going to go left or go right. I just know we’re going to do this year, and hopefully something can be arranged after where the show continues. That’s all I’m at liberty to say right now. Was I upset and frustrated? Not really, because … when it’s not in your control, there’s really nothing you can do. So again, I’m going to just keep it professional. We’ve got this one last year left, we’re gonna f***ing make it the best ever, we’re gonna give people memories, and we’ll just take it from there.”
It is still unclear whether the TNT deal will be reinstated or not but Shaq holding hope for Inside the NBA to stay on the air does allude that he knows something we don’t. We should all stay tuned all season to see if something changes along the way. By the looks of it, it does seem like Shaq might not be the only one who hopes the program will continue. Although we aren’t sure if it will work out well for either Amazon or Turner. All we know is that we should enjoy this upcoming season of Inside the NBA as if it was the last. At least it’s looking that way.
