The writing was on the wall for TNT hosting the rights to NBA, especially when Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslaf admitted as much many months ago.
At the time he said at different times, “Sports is hard,” and “We don’t have to have the NBA.”
He even stated the future business model with the NBA, “It has to be a deal for the future, it can’t be a deal for the past,” and even “You could put the NBA on HBO Max”.
Now that it is a relatively possibility TNT could lose the NBA the news is not as bad as it sounds.
They do still have college basketball, major league baseball until 2028 (with CBS), NHL rights (with ESPN), Bellator, major league soccer, Nascar, crying and MotoGP.
If they lose the NBA though gone goes the award winning Inside the NBA as well as losing pundits like host Ernie Johnson and analysts Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal.
Inside the NBA could be shared by another broadcaster though even on HBO Max so the future is not so bad.
