Democracy Dies in Darkness

Snark, mirth and girth: A very familiar ‘Inside the NBA’ debuts on ESPN

Charles Barkley, Shaq & Co. take their schtick to a new network and don’t miss a beat.

4 min
Charles Barkley, shown in 2019, got some predictable heckling for his seemingly sincere praise of ESPN. (Rich Fury/Getty Images)

In their ESPN debut, the stars of “Inside the NBA” showed they haven’t lost a step, even if Charles Barkley lost a few pounds.

Barkley’s apparent weight loss was mined Wednesday for laughs, as was the cast’s new home following a decades-long run on TNT, in an hour-long pregame show filled with the mirth and trash talk that came to define a program hugely popular among basketball fans.

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