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[Saba Sports News] Let the Charles Barkley farewell tour commence.
The Hall of Famer and TNT analyst announced on Friday that next season will be his last on television. Barkley made the announcement during the NBA TV postgame show after Game 4 of the 2024 NBA Finals.
“I really love TNT. All the people that work here, NBA television. You guys have been great to me for 24 years,” said Barkley. “I just want to say thank you to my entire NBA family. There’s been a lot of noise around our network the last few months. And I just want to say, I talked to all the other networks and I’m not going anywhere other than TNT.
“But I have made the decision myself, no matter what happens, next year is going to be my last year on television.”
By the end of the 2024-25 season, TNT is expected to lose its rights to broadcast NBA games to rival network NBC, creating uncertainty around the future of the “Inside the NBA” cast. Barkley was expected to spark a major media bidding war for his services, but after 24 years with TNT, he appears content to let the clock run out.