ESPN exec on Charles Barkley: ‘I would be lying if I said we weren’t interested’

Charles Barkley may be the hottest free agent to hit the market next year, if he hits the market.

As Warner Bros. Discovery wrangles with the NBA in court, hoping to win back a piece of the league’s media rights for 2025, there is already a line of suitors for Barkley, the company’s biggest star in sports.

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ESPN’s chief of content, Burke Magnus, said Tuesday he would be interested in bringing Barkley to the network if he were available. Asked at a Front Office Sports conference in New York if he could see a world with Barkley at ESPN, Magnus said he could.

“Yeah,” Magnus said at the “Tuned In” conference. “That would be a perfect world. … I would be lying if I said we weren’t interested in Charles. The entire industry is interested.”

NBC chairman Mark Lazerus said he would also have interest in Barkley. NBC will start broadcasting the NBA next season.

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Whether Barkley would have interest in ESPN or NBC is another question. The Basketball Hall of Famer, who has been part of TNT’s iconic “Inside the NBA” studio show since 2000, said in August he would remain with TNT Sports even after it lost the NBA. Barkley is in the third year of a 10-year, $210 million deal.

“I love my TNT Sports family,” Barkley, 61, said in a statement in August. “My #1 priority has been and always will be our people and keeping everyone together for as long as possible.

“We have the most amazing people, and they are the best at what they do,” his statement continued. “I’m looking forward to continuing to work with them both on the shows we currently have and new ones we develop together in the future. This is the only place for me.”

In July, Disney, NBC and Amazon won the bidding rights for the NBA’s next media deal, which will start with the 2025-26 season and last 11 years. The agreements with the three companies are worth $77 billion in total. WBD did not get a piece of the rights and sued the NBA to enforce what it says are matching rights from the current contract.

That lawsuit is currently in New York State court with a schedule that has put it on course for trial in April.

Required reading

• • My front row seat on ‘Inside the NBA,’ the greatest studio show in sports TV history
  • Charles Barkley not retiring, staying with TNT Sports long term: ‘This is the only place for me’
  • Charles Barkley to consider ESPN, NBC, Amazon deals if TNT doesn’t honor full $210 million contract