Shaquille O'Neal's new deal with TNT pays more than $15 million annually: report

TNT is getting the band back together.

Three years after signing Charles Barkley to a 10-year, $210 million extension to anchor the network's signature "Inside the NBA" studio show, co-star Shaquille O'Neal has agreed to a massive extension with TNT Sports that pays more than $15 million annually, according to Front Office Sports.

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"Inside the NBA" is moving to ESPN for the 2025-26 season, although it will continue to be produced out of the TNT studios in Atlanta, Georgia. Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney, the parent companies of TNT and ESPN, respectively, agreed to a deal that licenses the Emmy Award–winning studio show in exchange for a package of Big 12 college football/basketball games.

ESPN/ABC (owned by Disney), Amazon and NBC/Peacock were awarded exclusive national broadcasting rights beginning next season in a landmark $76 billion deal with the NBA. That cast the future of the "Inside the NBA" talent — O'Neal, Barkley, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith — in doubt until the unique licensing deal was brokered in Nov. 2024.

"In a perfect world, I would love for us to stay together forever, but it's in the hands of the powers right now," O'Neal said in Sept. 2024. "But this last year is gonna be a phenomenal year, you know Chuck is gonna go crazy, I'm gonna go crazy. It's gonna be fun. Hopefully, this is not the last year."

Not only is this not the last season of "Inside the NBA," it won't be the last with its largest — at least physically, if not in terms of salary — star.

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