Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, and Spike Lee smile before the game between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks during Game 5 of the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals on May 29, 2025 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
Charles Barkley agrees with disenchanted NBA fans.
The Basketball Hall of Famer appeared on long-running ESPN show “Pardon the Interruption” on Friday to discuss current matters in the NBA, particularly ranting about how hard it is to simply find games.
The league’s new media rights deal sprinkles games throughout ESPN/ABC, NBC/Peacock and Amazon’s Prime Video.
Charles Barkley stands in the second tee box during the first round of the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on July 11, 2025 in Stateline, Nevada. Getty Images
Barkley isn’t a fan of the whole setup.
“It is so difficult for fans to find the games now,” Barkley told Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser. “I think we’ve done a disservice to the fans and to the game. We’ve got to find a way to let the fans know. Because the fans are the backbone, and we want to support these networks.”
Barkley went on to say that people “don’t know” when games are on, and where.
“We’ve got to be very careful because we’ve got an 11-year deal, and it’s a team deal. The players are gonna be successful, but we want the networks to be successful also,” Barkley continued.
The new media rights deal, signed in July 2024, was inked for 11 years and $77 billion, and it kicked in this year.
Controversially, the deal didn’t include TNT, which didn’t appear to be keen on keeping the NBA product.
“Inside The NBA,” a long-running staple of TNT’s coverage, has since been moved to ESPN and will air more often now that football season is over.
Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, and Spike Lee smile before the game between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks during Game 5 of the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals. NBAE via Getty Images
Previously, TNT and ESPN shared the bulk of the nationally televised contests, not including the in-house NBA TV.
Barkley, who continues to co-host alongside Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal, has been a vocal proponent of the league becoming more “fan-friendly” as it relates to this media deal.