INSIDE The NBA was blamed for damaging the product in an extraordinary rant.
Shaq, Charles Barkley and the TNT team were slammed for “hammering” NBA “on a nightly basis.”
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The bold take came from Jason McIntyre on FS1.
The sports personality was appearing on The Herd with Colin Cowherd ahead of the NBA Cup final.
He was asked whether he would watch the showdown between the Milwaukee Bucks and Oklahoma City Thunder.
“I’m a big NBA guy,” he replied. “But this take probably won’t be very popular.
“I would argue that Inside the NBA, the show that everybody loves, has done more damage to the NBA in the last decade than anything.
“Inside the NBA goes on every week and trashes players, trashes the style of play.
“If you look on any other show, we’re all positive and excited.
“On Inside the NBA they just hammer the players.”
McIntyre added, “Charles Barkley is on TV with the Rockets in the final four of the NBA Cup saying they don’t know how to play basketball and they stink.
“What are you doing? You’re damaging your product on a nightly basis.”
Inside the NBA is one of the most popular shows in sports for the chemistry between it’s stars.
But it risked coming to an end this year when TNT loses the NBA rights.
The NBA has signed a new 11-year broadcast deal with ESPN, NBC and Amazon Prime.
That left Shaq and Co. potentially out in the cold.
But a deal was struck to license the show to ESPN from next season and continue their run.
New rights deal
The NBA signed an 11-year deal with three networks for the league’s rights from the 2025-26 season.
And there will be no games on TNT for the first time since the network launched in 1988.
The Walt Disney Company will continue to show the league with 80 regular-season games across ESPN and ABC.
They will also show around 18 playoff games from the first and second round, a Conference Finals series for 10 of the 11 years, and remain the home of the NBA Finals.
NBC will return as an NBA broadcaster for the first time since 2002.
The network will show up to 100 games per season across it’s channels and Peacock streaming service.
It will also be the home of NBA All-Star and show approximately 28 playoff games from the first and second round.
NBC will show one Conference Finals Series for six of the 11 years, rotating with new broadcaster Amazon Prime.
Amazon will show 66 NBA regular-season games including one on Black Friday.
The streaming service is also the home of the latter stages of the NBA Cup and the entire Play-In Tournament.
Prime will also broadcast around one third of the playoff games in the first and second round.
TNT broadcast the first semifinal of the NBA Cup in Las Vegas on Saturday.
ESPN was also in the desert to show the second semifinal and then the championship game.
The Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Cup after beating the Oklahoma City Thunder in Tuesday’s final.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a triple double and was named MVP.
And the NBA Cup will be part of Amazon’s rights package when their deal kicks in next season.
