NBA Sticks With Amazon Prime Offer, Making 2024-25 Last Season For 'NBA On TNT'

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One of the few good things the NBA has going for it — NBA on TNT and Inside The NBA with Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley — ends after next season. Earlier this week, Warner Bros. Discovery intended to match Amazon Prime Video's offer as one of the three networks to host NBA games. However, the NBA rejected Warner Bros' offer, signing an 11-year, $77 billion agreement with Amazon, ESPN and Comcast instead. 

It's the end of an era as TNT has been a league partner since 1989-90 and had the most popular show in the NBA, if not sports itself. The chemistry between Ernie, Shaq, Kenny, and Chuck is unmatched. Their shows feel more like hanging out with friends than the overly-produced garbage ESPN churns out daily. After the NBA announced its brain-dead decision Wednesday, basketball fans flocked to X (formerly known as "Twitter") to share their disappointment. 

That said, Warner Bros might not go down without a fight. TNT Sports' public relations released a statement via X Wednesday suggesting the NBA is wrongly rejecting its offer and a legal battle is forthcoming. Hopefully, the American justice system will step up and save Inside The NBA. 

Either way, this new multi-billion dollar TV deal is the Association "failing up". Late former NBA commissioner David Stern handed Adam Silver a golden goose in 2014, and it has regressed since. TV ratings have been dropping for years. The 2024 NBA Finals Game 4 between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks was the second-lowest viewed Game 4 in league history. 

More importantly, despite teams paying guys $70+ million per year, the NBA is in a "load management era." Almost none of the All-Stars play a majority of regular-season games to preserve themselves for the playoffs. By doing this, the NBA is devaluing the importance of its regular-season product, which conflicts with its ever-increasing ticket prices. 

Former Los Angeles Clippers' Russell Westbrook and Paul George and current Clipper, Kawhi Leonard, watch the game from the bench Milwaukee Bucks at Crypto.com Arena. (Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports)

The NBA declining Warner Bros Discovery's offer means 2024-25 will be the final season of ‘NBA on TNT’. (Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports)

This is an unforgivable sin that needs to be corrected ASAP. Essentially, the NBA is ripping off paying customers. Maybe the chickens never come home to roost, and the NBA gets $100+ billion for its next TV deal in 11 years. Yet, this is an unsustainable business model. 

With that in mind, the NBA on TNT was one of the few reasons to watch regular-season games. Between the barbershop banter among the quartet and Barkley's unfiltered commentary, losing TNT's coverage is an epic loss for the NBA. Unfortunately, only we, the fans, suffer because the NBA continues to rake in cash regardless of its lame product. 

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Follow me on X (or Twitter, whatever) @Geoffery-Clark and check out my OutKick Bets Podcast for more betting content and random rants.

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Geoff Clark serves as OutKick’s sports betting guru. As a writer and host of OutKick Bets with Geoff Clark, he dives deep into the sports betting landscape and welcomes an array of sports betting personalities on his show to handicap America’s biggest sporting events. Previously, Clark was a writer/podcaster for USA TODAY's Sportsbook Wire website, handicapping all the major sports tentpoles with a major focus on the NFL, NBA and MLB. Clark graduated from St. John University.