Here's the story from business insider
The nearly perfect TNT show Inside The NBA has added retired superstar Shaquille O’Neal to its studio crew.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell tweeted the news over the weekend.
TNT has yet to confirm the hiring. But if and when they do, the network will embark on the grand experiment of putting two larger than life personalities in the same room and hoping disaster doesn’t ensue.
Charles Barkley has played the role of the eclectic, outspoken, sometimes hard to understand analyst for the last several years. We’ll see if he’s forced to alter his shtick to make room for Shaq, or if Shaq lets the him do his thing by staying relatively quiet and sane.
As popular and entertaining as Shaq is, his presence may upset the strong chemistry between Barkley, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith that makes the show so good.
This is also a victory for TNT in its outgoing battle with ESPN. The sports media monolith surely had to be in the mix to sign Shaq. But it appears they have fallen further behind Turner by losing out on the summer's biggest broadcasting free-agent.
ESPN’s NBA studio team lags far behind TNT’s in terms of chemistry and entertainment value. No matter how good or bad an analyst Shaq proves to be, there's no doubt he could have been the shakeup that ESPN's crew sorely needs.
I could give two hoots about Shaq joining to be honest.. Not to say he doesn't have a presence or isn't one of my favorite bball personalities.. It's just I am more concerned about what happens to Chris Webber.. Chris Webber is one of the top two analyst on television currently.. The only person I would put in his category is Steve Kerr.. I think Kerr is a slept on analyst because he doesn't have that "wow" factor but when it comes to in game adjustments and pure knowledge he is the crem de la crem.. The set is not going to be able to fit 5 people on the set so that leaves Webber the odd man out.. Here's to hoping a press release comes in the following days that announces the plans for C.Webb
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