It was an emotional farewell for Charles Barkley as TNT’s iconic NBA broadcast comes to an end now. During “Inside the NBA” segment, there were different emotions engulfing the entire arena, with several NBA stars giving speeches and talking about the iconic moments they saw with TNT. Charles Barkley, too, had been associated with TNT for at least 25 years now, and it was a pretty emotional experience for him.
An emotional goodbye for Charles Barkley
As TNT’s deal with NBA games came to an end this year, the last game, between Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks was exciting as ever. Even as Charles Barkley, the Hall of Famer, is excited to join ESPN next season with a new team and a new family now, TNT meant a lot to him, professionally and personally. In his parting good bye, Barkley talked about how important the opportunity was for him and how lucky he has been to have experienced it all.
Barkley said, "Obviously, I got lucky and made one of the best decisions ever, I was obviously going to go to NBC, and a friend of mine, Michael Jackson, says, 'Come to have dinner at Turner. It'll make me look good.'
Further, Barkley said, "And these guys took me out to dinner, and after five hours, I had to call the great Dick Ebersol and say, 'Hey, man, I'm going to change my mind.'”
He added that he was thankful to many people who made it happen. He said, “I just want to thank every single person who's been at Turner with me the last 25 years. 25 years…..so if you're with people that long, they are your family. And I just want to thank everybody at Turner for the last 25 years. It's been an honor, and I'm grateful and thankful."
Now that Barkley is all set to take the stage at ESPN, Barkley said, "And also to ESPN, it's going to be an honor and a privilege to work for you guys, You guys are the number one sports network in history. I'm excited for it. You guys got some tremendous talents over there. I'm looking forward to co-working with those guys."
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