NBA – Unleashed, Shaq sets the tone before the farewell: “Not here to string pearls”

Par Pierre-Andréa Fraile | Journaliste sportif

True to his role as consultant for the famous Inside The NBA show, Shaquille O’Neal honored it for the last time on TNT this Saturday. Before moving on to a rival network, he took the time to send a scathing message.

As the Eastern Conference Finals drew to a close on Saturday evening, another chapter in NBA history came to a parallel close. Created by TNT in 1990, the famous Inside The NBA program was broadcast for the last time in the last few hours. American fans will no longer see the quartet of Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley on the channel.

However, the latter should be maintained in spite of everything, as Barkley recently explained with some bitterness in 101 ESPN:

Charles Barkley: The people we worked for for so many years screwed us and lost the NBA. All of a sudden, we thought that was going to be the end of the show, and then ESPN came along and said, “Hey, what if we got it back?”

Shaquille O’Neal warns before his arrival on ESPN

Although content to continue their journey side by side, the Inside The NBA figures nonetheless experienced this final show on TNT with a great deal of emotion. Not least Shaquille O’Neal, not exactly the media-sensitive type, but who sent a lovely message to each of his compatriots for the occasion:

Shaquille O’Neal: It’s been a great run and an honor for me.

Chuck, I love you like the big brother I never had. And if you say anything after that, I’m gonna kick your ass one last time on this show! (Laughs) Ernie, you came to my house in 1989 and 1991 and it’s been an honor to sit here next to you. And Kenny, you taught me what it means to be a champion in 1994 and 1995. We’re a family and I’m delighted that we’ll be continuing our journey together.

Once this goodbye was over, the illustrious pivot was keen to warn his future employers, as well as the competition, with some… unfiltered words:

Shaquille O’Neal: Even if the name changes, the engine remains the same. And a word to the network we’re landing on: we won’t be there to string pearls. And since this is the last show, I’ll just say it: we’re not here to b! We’re here to kick ass, settle scores and take everything by storm! (…) We’re here to continue kicking ass on this new channel!

So the American media landscape and ESPN’s big bosses know where they stand ahead of this new page.