Charles Barkley dares ESPN to fire him…
Like the fire-breathing Pat McAfee before him, Charles Barkley will not be going to tone down his rhetoric or make claims that he doesn’t consider for the benefit of ESPN.
Barkley already is daring ESPN to fire him before his first look on the community that will take over “Inside the NBA” next season.
“I’m not going to change my personality,” Barkley mentioned during an episode of Outkick’s “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich,” according to Awful Announcing.
“Ain’t nobody — they can’t fire me. I make too much money to get fired. So, they can’t fire me. First of all, if they fire me, they got to pay me for seven years, and I’m going to quit way before then. But if they want to fire me, I would love for them to do that. The only decision we’ve been making is how long I’m going to work… I’m not worried about getting fired. And nobody at ESPN is going to tell me what to say or do. Period.”
Charles Barkley during a reside presentation of “Inside the NBA,” that includes a livestream of the season opener New York Knicks at Boston Celtics sport and reside music at City Hall Plaza. Boston Globe via Getty Images
ESPN will start licensing “Inside The NBA” next season after TNT Sports misplaced its NBA broadcast rights. Barkley reportedly signed a 10-year, $210 million contract in 2022 to be an analyst on the best basketball pregame and postgame show.
But Barkley doesn’t sound like he’s in doing appearances on “Get Up,” “First Take,” “SportsCenter” or any different ESPN programming once he joins.
Especially not if he’s sharing the airwaves with ESPN’s NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins.
“I’m going to do what I want to do,” Barkley mentioned. “Nobody’s going to inform me what to say, or what to do. I get upset. [ESPN] is like, ‘The Lakers are contenders.’ I’m like, ‘No, they’re not.’ They know they’re not contenders.
Charles Barkley attends Kenny âThe Jetâ Smith and EMPIRE All-Star Charity Poker Tournament and Bash sponsored by Saratoga® Spring Water on February 14, 2025 in San Francisco, California. Getty Images for Saratoga® Spring Water
“Kendrick Perkins, who don’t know his ass from a hole in the wall, he’s like, ‘The Lakers are contenders. The Lakers are contenders.’ And I said, ‘They’re not contenders.’ And, clearly, if you lose in the first round [of the playoffs], you aren’t a contender.”
Barkley mentioned he was going to retire after this season but is sticking around “to make sure the people I love and work with for the last 25 years (at TNT) got a job” after the community change.
“That’s one that’s been very interesting and frustrating for me; we actually have no idea how this is going to work,” Barkley mentioned. The notion that I’m going to work more as I become older, that’s just not going to occur.”
Stay up to date with the most recent trending topics! Visit our web site every day for the freshest Sports information and content material, rigorously curated to keep you knowledgeable.
