Charles Barkley has heard enough from Colin Cowherd regarding “Inside the NBA” and its lack of airtime this season.
On Friday, Cowherd had theorized on his radio show that ESPN “shelved” the show at the request of commissioner Adam Silver over their supposed negativity toward the league. Barkley was clearly aware of Cowherd’s comments, because he had some strong words regarding that theory on Saturday’s “Inside.”
“There’s some fools at home or on the internet saying that we were talking bad about the players, so they made us work less. Shut the hell up,” Barkley said. “Man, y’all need to shut the hell up. This was already planned months and months ago.”
"And then you got fools on television…saying that we were talking bad about the players so they made us work less, shut the fu.. hell up!" Charles Barkley appears to respond to Colin Cowherd https://t.co/wAd6yttWWV pic.twitter.com/eL5qdFeZkl
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 24, 2026
Barkley narrowly censored himself from using a word stronger than “hell,” as he was clearly fired up.
The whole conversation came from Barkley bemoaning the fact that ESPN has not made much use of the “Inside” crew this season. As he correctly noted, the show was scheduled sporadically for the first three months of the season, but will be on much more often down the stretch run and into the playoffs.
Barkley is never shy about calling people out, especially when he feels like he is being misinterpreted as is the case here. It would be silly of the NBA to shut down a show that draws attention to the league for any reason.
