Charles Barkley Admits He Won't Stay For All 10 Years Of 'Inside The NBA' Contract
Charles Barkley is telling 'Inside the NBA' fans to appreciate him while they can, because he doesn't plan on sticking around.
The outspoken former Suns player was quite candid on his broadcasting future during a recent sit-down on the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast. To put it in simplest terms possible, Barkley isn't sticking around.
Barkley was asked about the thinking behind his recent ten-year deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, formerly known as Turner Sports.
“They wanted me to let people know I wasn’t leaving, like, next week,” Barkley said in relation to Turner's thoughts on his appearances on Inside the NBA. “There’s no chance in hell I’m gonna be working when I’m 70. Zero. But they said, ‘Hey let’s just make people think you’re gonna hang around.'"
BARKLEY SIGNED A TEN-YEAR DEAL
Barkley claims that Turner knew his intentions and just wanted him to sign anything in order to stop the speculation that he may be departing and heading elsewhere - possibly to LIV Golf. But I kind of hope that Barkley is making this part up and the executives just found out right now that Chuck intends to get up and go whenever he wants. I can just imagine his agent's phone blowing up with frantic and angry calls once the interview dropped.
To his credit, the opinionated Barkley actually showed that he has put some thought into his broadcasting future. You can tell that he's deeply struggling with staying too long or walking away too early - no one wants to ride a sinking ship, but no one wants to fade away, either.
PART OF INSIDE THE NBA FOR OVER 20 YEARS
“I’ll be honest with you. The only thing that keeps me up at night is trying to figure out when’s the best time to walk away. Because the one thing you don’t want to do is stay too long," Barkley explained.
“What’s interesting is, I can’t believe I’ve been doing this shit for 23 years. That’s what’s crazy. I mean, that’s a long time. So what really keeps me up at night, to be flat-out honest with you, and I don't know the right or the wrong answer, is when’s the best time to walk away? Do you wanna walk away while the show is still successful or do you want them to go like, ‘Hey, man, we're really sick of seeing your face after all these years.’ So that’s really the only thing that keeps me up late at night, trying to figure out what’s the best way to leave.”
BARKLEY'S DEPARTURE REASONS
Part of the reason Barkley says he wants to leave before the age of 70 is because he wants to be around for his family and spend time with his grandchildren. That, and he fears becoming what so many other broadcasters and athletes have done over the years.
“You know, most of us, especially guys who play sports, you play till you suck. I can’t think of any guy who retired when he still had anything left in the tank. Probably Jim Brown was the last guy.
“So I kind of look at TV the same way. What’s wrong with leaving while things are still going good? Why get to the point where you’re like, ‘Yo, man, Charles Barkley is 72-years-old and he still got his fat ass on television.' Nobody wants to see that."
Well, people do want to see Barkley - him and Shaq are the reason that Inside the NBA is literally the only pre and post game show that people continually watch - and believe me, it's not for the basketball talk.
So enjoy Barkley while you can, because he's not going to be around forever.