Charles Barkley would love ESPN to fire him as | NBA News

Charles Barkley has claimed he is immune to being sacked by ESPN for his blunt commentary and basketball insight because he “makes too much money to get fired”. Barkley, who seems alongside Shaquille O’Neal as half of the TNT group, is a very important ingredient of the community’s esteemed ‘Inside the NBA’ show, accomplished by personalities Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith.

In a latest twist, Barkley hijacked a CBS interview designed to shine a highlight on his new e-book. He also stirred issues up earlier in the week when NBA Coach of the Year Kenny Atkinson appeared on this system. This flurry of exercise got here soon after the 62-year-old shared his considerations about NFL legend Bill Belichick due to his girlfriend Jordon Hudson’s involvement with Stephen A. Smith.

On Friday, during an episode of ‘Don’t @ Me’ with Dan Dakich, Barkley was requested whether or not Stephen A. Smith had any shot at the US presidency, to which he emphatically replied, “Hell no!”

Famous for his no-holds-barred method, there’s been hypothesis that ESPN might call for Barkley to curb his direct model as he prepares to change from TNT before the beginning of the 2025/26 basketball season. Yet Barkley confronted these rumours head-on.

“I’m not going to change my personality,” he confirmed to Outkick when questioned if his method would differ next season. “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 need to fire me, I would love for them to do that. The only resolution we have been making is how long I’m going to work… I’m not nervous about getting fired. And no person at ESPN goes to inform me what to say or do. Period.”

This comes in the wake of Barkley penning a staggering 10-year, $210million deal in 2022 to serve as an analyst on “Inside the NBA”. With no less than seven years remaining on his contract, it would cost ESPN a pretty penny to dismiss him prematurely.

As the programme transitions from TNT Sports to ESPN’s platform, Barkley continues to stand firm, insisting, “Nobody’s going to inform me what to say, or what to do.”

He didn’t stop there, either. Barkley also took a swipe at potential ESPN cohort Kendrick Perkins, mocking his understanding by saying he doesn’t “know his ass from a gap in the wall” and challenging his view that the Lakers are title contenders.

Following the seismic news of ESPN’s takeover of Inside the NBA, Barkley initially hinted at hanging up his hat but quickly changed his tune, justifying his initial retirement threat as a means to “to make sure the people I love and work with for the final 25 years received a job.”

This story first appeared on the Mirror US