Charles Barkley Is Reportedly Not Retiring From Television, Just As Everyone Paying Attention Was Predicting

After Game Four of the NBA Finals in June, Charles Barkley announced that he would be retiring from television following the 2024-25 NBA season. Not many believed him, given the millions of dollars he would be leaving on the table, but with TNT set to lose broadcasting rights to the NBA after the upcoming campaign, the chances of him actually walking away from TV weren't zero. Close, but not zero.

Fast forward to today, less than two months after he told the world he'd be retiring in 2025, Andrew Marchand of the New York Times has reported that Barkley will stay on board with TNT for the remainder of his 10-year, $210 million contract.

This is the outcome everyone was predicting. 

Barkley is entering year three of his 10-year deal. If he retired, he would be forfeiting hundreds of millions of dollars. 

Given that he's a legitimate superstar and synonymous to anything involving the NBA on television, Barkley was being targeted by Amazon, ESPN, and NBC with the three-letter network beginning its 11-year, $77 billion contract with the NBA beginning after the upcoming season.

Charles Barkley is reportedly staying put at TNT, not retiring, and collecting his hundreds of millions still left on his contract. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)

Charles Barkley Is Understandably All About The Money

Despite saying that "I'm not doing any more interviews" during his original announcement about retirement, Barkley joined ‘The Dan Patrick Show’ on July 26 and laid out the terms and negotiation demands he had if TNT wanted him to stay on board.

"Next year will be year three. Turner (TNT) has to come to me today or next week and say, 'Hey we screwed up. Will you take a pay cut?'" Barkley told Dan Patrick. "So they'll either have to guarantee the full 10 years, ($210 million), or they're going to have to ask me to take a pay cut, which, under no circumstances,  am I taking a pay cut. Zero chance of me taking a pay cut."

Barkley explained that he'd "politely decline" taking a pay cut because of the great relationship he has had with the network. 

That presented two options for TNT: guarantee the entire contract, or watch Barkley walk. Based on Marchand's report, TNT guaranteed the full deal.

While things are interesting on the Barkley-NBA-TNT front now, they'll be even more so after next season when the league heads to NBC. TNT is suing the NBA to enforce its non-compete agreement, but if NBC becomes the home of the NBA, it'll be intriguing to see what direction TNT goes with Barkley.