'Inside the NBA' Will Air a Special Episode Tonight

The NBA season has been suspended indefinitely following the news that one of their players contracted coronavirus. The league will shut it's doors for at least 30 days. There is literally no way to tell when basketball will resume. With the season in limbo, the Inside the NBA crew will gather to discuss the state of the league one last time before they go on break.

This should be an important hour of television. Behind LeBron James and Stephen Curry, this show is arguably the face of the NBA. Their discussions following the death of Kobe Bryant produced some truly incredible moments. This show has the capacity for such good and thoughtful conversations that when they fail to live up to their own standard - like the Marcus Morris incident - it's a huge disappointment.

America is being forced to confront just how bad things could get because of the coronavirus because of what it is doing to the sports we love and watch. Charles, Kenny, Ernie and Shaq (and whoever else might join them) are going to discuss what this means for the NBA, but they're just as likely to have a frank discussion of what this means for every sport at every level and what this is going to mean for our country over the next couple months.

Unless TNT decides to turn Inside the NBA into weekly culture and politics show (which doesn't sound that bad), this is likely the last time we see these guys for months. Under normal circumstances, we were about to be inundated with these guys over the same period of time.

We were days away from Charles Barkley appearing on every studio show and every commercial break through March Madness. Now one of the most outspoken athletes of the last 25 years is about to lose his platform. This is just another small facet of how our immediate lives are about to change. It's nice that TNT is giving us one last episode. Hopefully, they're back soon because that would mean things are headed in the right direction again.