Charles Barkley Says Kobe Bryant Was Almost Member of ‘Inside the NBA’

What could have been for Kobe Bryant.

Apparently Kobe Bryant had another media venture that he considered once before eventually passing on it. And that was being a member of the NBA on TNT Thursday night crew.

Sounds like the NBA on TNT Crew would have been a mixture of Charles Barkley, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson. That’s according to Charles Barkley.

The NBA on TNT host visited Draymond Green’s podcast and explained how Bryant had actually signed a contract to come on the show but “didn’t want to do all the other [expletive].”

“He had signed with us. David Levy, my old boss, had signed him to a deal. And we were excited. We were really excited. And then he called me back a week, 10 days later…like, ‘Yeah, Kobe’s not going to come.’ I’m like, ‘why?’ Because he don’t want to do all the PR stuff. He don’t want to go on radio shows and talk about basketball. Like, well, that’s part of the gig…He didn’t want to do all that and he never came to work for us.”

“Kobe Bryant signed a contract to join the NBA on TNT crew after his retirement.” – Charles Barkley pic.twitter.com/EOsBwQMP8f

— 𝙎𝙝𝙪𝙗𝙝 ⁶𓅓 (@OVOLakeShow) March 2, 2022

Twitter reacted to the Kobe news:

Oh my goodness. https://t.co/iKF9zDVfZb

— 🇰🇪🇺🇸 (@JMKTVShow) March 2, 2022

This would've been absolutely insane. Pure comedy https://t.co/79VlBD1jCQ

— فيلا (@villasttp) March 2, 2022

This shows me how out of the game and stuck in their ways the TV industry leaders are. All you had to do was ask Kobe what he wanted to do, sign him, and let everybody do the PR. 😂😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/npVWAdTE6T

— Will (@WilliamRichJr) March 2, 2022

Can you imagine Kobe shooting playful shots at Shaq and they arguments with Chuck? We needed this man https://t.co/6SXrRJ5n8j

— Will Smith’s Boxing Coach (@SikuLaFlame) March 2, 2022

WOW! That’s all I have to say. https://t.co/8DjpDpsDeZ

— Parlay (@ErrythingIrieRy) March 2, 2022

What could’ve been, man.

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