Stephen A. Smith Places Blame Squarely on TNT Bosses for Losing Out on NBA Deal: ‘TNT Dropped the Ball’

Stephen A. Smith believes TNT and Warner Bros. Discovery’s higher-ups are to blame for TNT Sports losing out on NBA media rights after next season.

The NBA announced Wednesday that it agreed to a long-term deal with Amazon. That agreement came after WBD failed to match Amazon’s offer to retain NBA media rights. Next season is the final year of the current deal, meaning TNT will not carry NBA games after that.

In its own statement, however, TNT Sports claimed it did match Amazon’s offer and had the contractual right to do so. TNT has also vowed to take “appropriate action” after the NBA “grossly misinterpreted” its contractual rights.

On Wednesday’s episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith detailed how TNT got itself in this position in the first place.

“TNT dropped the ball here,” he said. “I’m not talking about [Charles Barkley]. I’m not talking about [Shaquille O’Neal]. I’m not talking about Kenny Smith or Ernie Johnson. I’m talking about the brass at TNT.

“It started years ago when they alluded to how unimportant the NBA was to the brand itself, and the resistance that they gave in reaching a new deal. [As a] matter of fact, according to my sources, guess what? Adam Silver, the commissioner, talked to the honchos at Warner Bros. Discovery before a deal was agreed

upon weeks ago, basically letting them know, ‘Hey, you need to match. Here’s where we are,’ and there was a bunching of hemming and hawing. See, that’s why Barkley’s been going off — because he knew and still knows it never had to come to this.”