Stephen A. Smith made fun of TNT harshly for giving up its long-standing NBA rights. The presenter of First Take criticized Warner Bros. Discovery officials for their handling of the incident on his own program. TNT “did not match” terms on an offer made by streaming service Amazon, the NBA said this week.
This means that the wildly successful studio program Inside the NBA is set to stop following the 2024–2025 campaign.
Stephen A. Smith goes hard on TNT
Stephen A. claims that TNT squandered the chance to maintain ownership of the NBA rights despite being offered multiple chances.
In his podcast, Smith stated:
“TNT dropped the ball here,”
“I’m talking about the brass at TNT. It started years ago when they alluded to how unimportant the NBA was to the brand itself and the resistance that they gave in reaching a new deal. “As a matter of fact, according to my sources, Adam Silver, the commissioner, talked to the honchos at Warner Bros. Discovery before a deal was agreed upon weeks ago. “Basically letting them know, ‘Hey, you need to match, here’s where we are.’
“And there was a bunch of hemming and hawing.” “Anybody who could get their hands on Barkley, Shaq, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson should do it, even if it’s ESPN,”
“Those brothers are phenomenal. I root for them everyday, all day, all the time.
“So hopefully, somehow someway, there will be a platform available to them — whether it’s ESPN/ABC, whether it’s Amazon, whether it’s NBC.”
