Charles Barkley took aim at the NBA on Friday for refusing to accept TNT’s matching offer to extend a decades-long TV rights partnership. The league has opted to take an offer from Amazon instead of TNT, where the basketball legend has worked as a broadcaster since 2000, prompting a lawsuit over the NBA’s contractual obligations.

Barkley, who’s been vocal about TNT’s predicament for months, began the day by bashing the NBA’s decision.

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“Clearly the NBA has wanted to break up with us from the beginning,” Barkley said in a statement. “I’m not sure TNT ever had a chance. TNT matched the money, but the league knows Amazon and these tech companies are the only ones willing to pay for the rights when they double in the future.”

But Amazon and the league’s other media rights partners — ABC/ESPN and NBCUniversal — also may be willing to pay a premium for Barkley’s services. By Friday afternoon, Barkley’s tone shifted and he told The Athletic he’s open to entertaining interest from other networks because of how TNT wound up in a standoff with the NBA. 

“My thing was, ‘Wait, y’all f**** up, I didn’t f*** up, why do I have to take a pay cut?” Barkley said.

The league announced its 11-year TV rights agreements Wednesday after months of negotiations over the new package, which totals about $77 million between the three networks that were chosen.

The new deal kicks in for the 2025-2026 season, meaning TNT has one last year with the NBA. The network began broadcasting NBA games in 1989, becoming a fixture of the basketball landscape with its “Inside the NBA” show hosted by Barkley, Shaquille O’Neil, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson.

TNT’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Turner Broadcasting Systems sued the NBA on Friday in a move that had been viewed as a final strategy to retain TV rights. The lawsuit claims TNT had a contractual right to match Amazon’s offer and that the league should be required to accept it. TNT did not make an offer to the NBA during its exclusive window to negotiate with the league, which opened the door to competitors like Amazon.

“Given the NBA’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights,” Warner Bros. Discovery said in a statement. “We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans who want to keep watching our industry-leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed WBD video-first distribution platforms – including TNT and Max.”

The NBA claims the offer TNT made did not match the value of Amazon’s streaming package or the financial structure of the deal.

Barkley accused the league of selling out its fans.

“It’s a sad day when owners and commissioners choose money over the fans,” he said. “It just sucks.”

But Barkley’s future in broadcasting is suddenly a hot topic of speculation.

Last month, Barkley said he already had made the decision to retire from TV after the next NBA season, regardless of how the TV rights issue unfolded. He said he would not go anywhere other than TNT, which had signed him to a 10-year, $210 million contract. Barkley would no longer have an NBA home at the network if it doesn’t retain the rights beyond next season. 

Front Office Sports reported Friday that Amazon, NBC and ESPN each are interested in luring Barkley — and possibly others from the “Inside the NBA” crew — to their networks at a premium price. 

Barkley then told The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand that he’d be willing to listen to offers if his current contract isn’t fully guaranteed.

“Turner has to come to me ASAP and they have to guarantee my whole thing or they can offer me a pay cut, which there is no chance of that happening and I’ll be (a) free agent,” Barkley said.

The NBA Hall of Famer added that the litigation is souring his view of the situation.

“I don’t want to be in a relationship where I have to sue somebody to be in it,” Barkley said. “That makes zero sense.”

Barkley previously had criticized TNT for not acting more aggressively to retain its NBA rights.

“I don’t feel good, I’m not gonna lie — especially when they came out and said we bought college football,” Barkley said in May. “I was like, ‘Well damn, they could’ve used that money to buy the NBA.'”

The TV agreements the NBA negotiated will keep ABC/ESPN as the top tier broadcaster with rights to the NBA Finals, a Christmas package, Wednesday games on ESPN, Saturday prime-time games on ABC, and Sunday showcase packages.

NBC’s deal includes the NBA’s opening night, Sunday night games and regional games on Tuesdays. It also will have Monday games on its Peacock streaming platform and will broadcast the NBA All-Star Game.

Amazon Prime will get the NBA Play-In Tournament and games on Thursday and Friday nights, in addition to a strategic partnership for the subscription-based NBA League Pass.

The NBA playoffs will be shared by the three networks, which will broadcast varying numbers of games depending on the season and postseason round during the course of the 11-year deal. 

Outside of nationally televised games, the 76ers will still be broadcast locally by NBC Sports Philadelphia.

The lawsuit against the NBA is reminiscent of another legal dispute in 1973 when ABC Sports executive Rune Aldridge sued the league over a deal it made with CBS. The costly litigation became a high-profile drama that ABC Sports ultimately lost and then went decades without NBA coverage.

In his earlier statement Friday, Barkley thanked everyone he’s worked with at Turner and said he looks forward to the upcoming NBA season on TNT. 

“We’re going to give you everything we have next season,” Barkley said.