And with that, an era ends: 'Thanks for watching us. It's the NBA on TNT'
Ernie Johnson could barely get the words out.
The run of 'Inside the NBA' on TNT came to an end on Saturday night, after nearly four decades as a fixture of the league. The show will move to ESPN and ABC next season — and keep Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley together, still doing most shows from Atlanta — but the final TNT sign-off was an emotional one.
Advertisement
'I'm proud to say for the last time, 'Thanks for watching us. It's the NBA on TNT,'" Johnson said, before turning his back to the camera, placing his microphone on the desk and getting up from that set for the final time.
NBA games will not be airing on TNT starting next season when the league's new television package kicks in — an 11-year media rights deal worth at least $76 billion, one that keeps games on ABC and ESPN, brings the league back to NBC and starts a new relationship with Amazon Prime Video.
ABC will broadcast the NBA Finals, meaning the end of the Eastern Conference finals between Indiana and New York was the end of TNT's run. Turner Sports first acquired an NBA package in 1984 and games were on TNT since the network launched in 1988.
'Even though the name changes, the engine is still the same," O'Neal said during the final broadcast. "And to that new network we're coming to, we're not coming to (expletive) around. ... We're taking over, OK? I love you guys and I appreciate you guys.'
Advertisement
The moment was not lost on Indiana coach Rick Carlisle. His team had just clinched a spot in the NBA Finals by beating New York, and when his brief interview with Johnson during the trophy ceremony was over, Carlisle grabbed the microphone out of the host's hands.
'Congratulations to TNT on a fabulous, unbelievable run that's coming to an end,' Carlisle said in the unprompted tribute. 'We're all very sad about that.'
The names of countless past and current broadcasters and analysts were included in the many tributes offered on-air after the game, including Doug Collins, Hubie Brown, Dick Stockton, Cheryl Miller, Danny Ainge, John Thompson, Steve Kerr, Mike Fratello, Marv Albert, Brian Anderson, Chris Webber, Candace Parker and Craig Sager.
'Our hearts are full of gratitude,' TNT's Kevin Harlan said on-air, speaking to the viewers. 'Not sadness, but gratitude and happiness for what has been. It has been an honor. It has been a privilege. And I hope you all have enjoyed it as much as we have.'
Advertisement
Harlan had the play-by-play call for the final game, with Reggie Miller, Stan Van Gundy and Allie LaForce on the broadcast as well.
'Think about my life. I'm very fortunate,' Miller said. 'I've only known two things: 18 years with one franchise in this building with the Indiana Pacers, and 19 years with Turner.'
Many members of the TNT production crew have gotten jobs with NBC and Amazon, Johnson said, because of their exemplary work to this point. 'Best production crew in the business, I might add,' Johnson said.
And when it turned back to the 'Inside the NBA' crew for one last time on TNT, the emotions were clear.
Advertisement
"This has just been a magnificent ride," Smith said.
Barkley talked about how he was going to sign with NBC when starting his broadcast career, then switched to TNT.
'I just want to say thank you to the NBA," Barkley said. 'Every coach I've had, every player I've played with, for giving me this magnificent life that I've had. I am so lucky and blessed. I'm lucky and blessed. And I want to thank TNT. Even though we'll never say TNT Sports again, I want to thank TNT for giving me a magnificent life.'
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Crypto stocks tumble ahead of Friday's economic conference
Crypto stocks tumbled on Tuesday as investors retreated ahead of this week's economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. According to CNBC , Coinbase and eToro fell more than 5% each, Robinhood and Bullish dropped more than 6%, crypto services firm Galaxy Digital dropped 11%, and crypto treasury firms Strategy, SharpLink Gaming, Bitmine Immersion, and DeFi Development lost 7%, 8%, 12%, and 15% respectively. Stablecoin issuer Circle slid 5%. Bitcoin fell nearly 3% to just over $113,000 and Ether dropped more than 4% to $4,100, according to data from Coin Metrics reviewed by CNBC. Crypto stocks have soared in recent months after Coinbase joined the S&P 500 index, Circle went public, and President Trump signed the GENIUS Act — a regulatory framework for stablecoins — into law. Wyoming just became the first state in the U.S. to issue its own stablecoin. But bearish behavior has returned ahead of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's annual economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Friday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is expected to take the stage and signal where policy is headed . Wall Street overwhelmingly expects the Federal Reserve to cut rates next month, even as some analysts doubt that outcome, Fortune reported. 'With Powell speaking at Jackson Hole, we typically see profit-taking ahead of his remarks,' Satraj Bambra, CEO of hybrid exchange Rails, told CNBC. 'Any time there's communication uncertainty from the Fed, you can generally expect some profit-taking as traders de-risk their positions.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Yext, Sprout Social, Unity, Upstart, and AppLovin Shares Plummet, What You Need To Know
What Happened? A number of stocks fell in the morning session after investors took some profits off the table as markets awaited signals on future monetary policy from the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium later in the week. The downturn in the market was largely attributed to a significant sell-off in megacap tech and chipmaker shares. Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Broadcom all saw notable drops, dragging down the VanEck Semiconductor ETF. Other major tech-related companies like Tesla, Meta Platforms, and Netflix were also under pressure. A key reason for this trend is that much of the recent market gains have been concentrated in the "AI trade," which includes these large technology and semiconductor companies. So this could also mean that some investors are locking in some gains ahead of more definitive feedback from the Fed. The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Among others, the following stocks were impacted: Listing Management Software company Yext (NYSE:YEXT) fell 3.2%. Is now the time to buy Yext? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Marketing Software company Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy Sprout Social? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Design Software company Unity (NYSE:U) fell 4%. Is now the time to buy Unity? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Lending Software company Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) fell 5.3%. Is now the time to buy Upstart? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Advertising Software company AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) fell 6.1%. Is now the time to buy AppLovin? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Zooming In On AppLovin (APP) AppLovin's shares are extremely volatile and have had 59 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today's move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business. The previous big move we wrote about was 5 days ago when the stock dropped 3.6% on the news that markets pulled back as a hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation report for July dampened hopes for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut. The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI), a key measure of wholesale inflation, rose 0.9% month-over-month in July, far exceeding the 0.2% increase that economists had predicted. Annually, prices at the wholesale level jumped 3.3%, also surpassing the 2.5% forecast. This hotter-than-expected data has poured cold water on widespread expectations for an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve next month. Persistent inflation makes it less likely for the central bank to ease monetary policy. Sectors with high-growth stocks, such as SaaS, are particularly sensitive to interest rate changes, as the prospect of higher rates for longer can diminish the present value of their future earnings, leading to a decline in stock prices. AppLovin is up 20.6% since the beginning of the year, but at $412.33 per share, it is still trading 19.2% below its 52-week high of $510.13 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of AppLovin's shares at the IPO in April 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $6,324. Today's young investors likely haven't read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next.
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
3D Systems, EVgo, Sanmina, VSE Corporation, and FuelCell Energy Shares Are Falling, What You Need To Know
What Happened? A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after investors took some profits off the table as markets awaited signals on future monetary policy from the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium later in the week. The downturn in the market was largely attributed to a significant sell-off in megacap tech and chipmaker shares. Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Broadcom all saw notable drops, dragging down the VanEck Semiconductor ETF. Other major tech-related companies like Tesla, Meta Platforms, and Netflix were also under pressure. A key reason for this trend is that much of the recent market gains have been concentrated in the "AI trade," which includes these large technology and semiconductor companies. So this could also mean that some investors are locking in some gains ahead of more definitive feedback from the Fed. The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Among others, the following stocks were impacted: Custom Parts Manufacturing company 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) fell 6%. Is now the time to buy 3D Systems? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Renewable Energy company EVgo (NASDAQ:EVGO) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy EVgo? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Electrical Systems company Sanmina (NASDAQ:SANM) fell 3.9%. Is now the time to buy Sanmina? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Maintenance and Repair Distributors company VSE Corporation (NASDAQ:VSEC) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy VSE Corporation? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Renewable Energy company FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ:FCEL) fell 4.1%. Is now the time to buy FuelCell Energy? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Zooming In On 3D Systems (DDD) 3D Systems's shares are extremely volatile and have had 73 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today's move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business. The previous big move we wrote about was 7 days ago when the stock gained 30.3% on the news that the company reported strong third quarter results with operating profits and earnings per share exceeding Wall Street's estimates. Revenue for the quarter fell 16.3% year-over-year to $94.84 million, narrowly missing Wall Street's expectations. However, investors looked past the sales decline and focused on the company's profitability. 3D Systems posted an adjusted loss of $0.07 per share, which was significantly better than the consensus analyst estimate of a $0.16 loss per share. Furthermore, its adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), a measure of operational performance, was a loss of $5.3 million, beating estimates by over 60%. Despite ongoing challenges, including negative free cash flow and long-term revenue declines, the strong bottom-line outperformance suggested to investors that the company's cost management efforts are yielding positive results. 3D Systems is down 38.4% since the beginning of the year, and at $1.97 per share, it is trading 58.3% below its 52-week high of $4.72 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of 3D Systems's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $362.13. Today's young investors likely haven't read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
