Charles Barkley joked on Fox Sports Radio that he hopes ESPN fires him over a racy Cardi B comment made during the NBA Finals, even as he also appears to genuinely enjoy his role on “Inside the NBA,” the TNT studio show ESPN now licenses for NBA Finals coverag
Charles Barkley made the dare on air Wednesday, and he didn’t even try to dress it up.
“I’m hoping they fire me,” Barkley joked during an appearance on Fox Sports Radio on Wednesday. He said he has “six or seven years left” on his contract. adding that ESPN knows he “got no chance of doing” the job long enough to make that run. Then he went further: “I would love for them to fire me and have to pay me for the next six or seven years.”.
The joke was tied to his reaction to Cardi B’s halftime performance during Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday at Madison Square Garden. Barkley laughed about it with the kind of blunt wordplay that tends to divide listeners.
“I don’t know if those are B’s. They might be Cardi D’s,” he said on air. “I’m pretty sure those aren’t B’s. She’s got the wrong initials.”
He returned to the theme Wednesday, insisting he wouldn’t be taking any “serious” offense to the backlash—if it came.
“I would love to get fired, I’m not gonna lie. Because there’s zero chance I’m gonna be working the next six or seven years, zero,” Barkley continued.
He also defended the idea that jokes should still be jokes.
“Come on, man. People can’t take a joke? They can kiss my ass. I appreciate all the support I’ve gotten all these years, but if anybody thinks everybody likes them, they’re a fool. So if people don’t like me or don’t have a sense of humor, they can kiss my ass. My whole ass, not just one cheek.”
Barkley’s comments land at a moment when ESPN’s relationship with the NBA Finals studio show has shifted. The report says he is serving as the studio face through “Inside the NBA,” which appears as the studio show before, during, and after the NBA Finals on ABC for the first time.
The details matter: “Inside the NBA” remains a TNT production, and ESPN licenses it without editorial control—described as similar to the “Pat McAfee Show.” And even if ESPN could fire Barkley, the piece says it “wouldn’t.”
That distinction helps explain why the Cardi B joke—or any other blunt, abrasive line—can travel across platforms without being scrubbed out.
The bigger backdrop. according to the same account. is that ESPN has spent more than a decade trying to build a pregame and halftime show strong enough to compete with TNT’s “Inside the NBA.” It cycled through an unusually wide roster of basketball figures. including Magic Johnson. Michael Wilbon. Stephen A. Smith, Bill Simmons, and Jalen Rose, with multiple combinations failing to stick.
Hosts also rotated: Sage Steele came closest to stabilizing the show. but ESPN later turned to Michele Beadle. Maria Taylor. and then Malika Andrews. The piece additionally states that ESPN planned to elevate Rachel Nichols before she was demoted for her white skin color in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.
The report argues that something changed with ESPN’s decision to license “Inside the NBA” after TNT bypassed renewing its NBA rights past the 2025 season.
As a result, “Inside the NBA” is described as having improved ESPN’s NBA Finals coverage, with Barkley identified as the show’s biggest star.
In that setting. the article makes a simple claim: jokes like the Cardi B comment—along with other examples listed. including “the big ol’ women of San Antonio”—will be tolerated. It’s framed as the kind of rough-edged studio style people either accept or reject. and in this arrangement. ESPN is choosing to live with it.
Barkley, for his part, has turned the whole thing into a challenge: let ESPN fire him if it wants. He says he hopes it happens. ESPN, at least in the way this setup is described, doesn’t control the studio product the same way it controls an in-house show.
Charles Barkley ESPN Fox Sports Radio Cardi B NBA Finals Madison Square Garden Inside the NBA TNT ABC Stephen A. Smith LeBron James studio show