Rumors of Shaquille O’Neal potentially leaving the “Inside the NBA” crew appear to have just been a pump-fake.
Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reported Friday that the Basketball Hall of Famer O’Neal is nearing a contract extension with TNT Sports. The extension is set to keep O’Neal on the award-winning program “Inside the NBA” once it moves over to ESPN beginning in the 2025-26 season (as part of a recent settlement between ESPN and TNT).
The 52-year-old O’Neal has been part of the program’s iconic four-man crew (along with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley) since 2011. But O’Neal was facing uncertainty over his continued future with “Inside the NBA” because he has a different contract setup from his co-hosts. O’Neal’s current contract only runs through July 1 and is exclusively for NBA duties. With TNT losing the broadcast rights to the NBA after this season, that led to speculation that The Big Aristotle may be moving in a different direction.
Instead however, O’Neal is progressing towards completing a contract extension that will officially keep the squad intact. That said though, there are some concerns from fans that “Inside the NBA” could be potentially be watered down a bit with the move to ESPN.
