Charles Barkley said he could leave TNT for LIV Golf

The possibility of Charles Barkley joining LIV Golf appears to be becoming real and it could come at the cost of his role on TNT. Inside the NBA.

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According to sports radio host Dan Patrick, Barkley plans to meet with senior officials about a media stance with LIV Golf on Wednesday night. And if Barkley likes the face number presented to him, it could spell the end of his more than two-decade tenure on Inside the NBA.

“Charles says he’s going to listen to them,” Patrick said on his Tuesday morning radio show. “I believe tomorrow night and decide what he will do. And he might have to leave TNT, which is why it’s such a big deal. Charles knows he might have to leave TNT to do this.

Dan Patrick says Charles Barkley told him he might have to leave TNT if he joins LIV Golf pic.twitter.com/2brmHS39K0

— Brandon Contes (@BrandonContes) July 19, 2022

Last week Barkley said The next round show that he planned to speak with LIV Golf about a media role, but he may have downplayed the potential meeting by saying he had no details on what the position would be.

“I’m going to meet LIV,” Barkley said last week. “They called me and said ‘Will I meet them?’ And I said yes. Nothing imminent, in fact I don’t know everything they want from me, or what they technically want me to do, but you always have to look at all the opportunities that present themselves. So the answer to your question is, 100% yes, I will meet LIV.

Without knowing “what they technically want me to do,” Barkley at least seems to know that they might want him to leave Turner, or that Turner won’t want to be associated with someone who works for LIV Golf. As LIV Golf poaches talent from the PGA Tour and attempts to build a viable team of broadcasters in hopes of attracting a TV deal, those who choose to partner with the Saudi-backed golf league have been widely criticized. If Barkley joins LIV, he won’t escape similar criticism, no matter how popular he is.

LIV is majority owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and everyone associated with the league has been accused of helping the Saudi government wash away its appalling human rights abuses. Barkley, however, has backed golfers who choose to chase the nine-figure deals offered by the Saudi-funded tour and recently went so far as to say, “If someone gave me $200 million, I would kill a relative.

While I assume his loved ones will be saved if Barkley chooses to join LIV, it looks like the biggest blow to a potential deal could be felt by his Turner. Inside the NBA co-hosts, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.

“I’m just putting it out there, which I was told this morning. Charles knows he may have to leave TNT. It would be bad for everyone,” Patrick continued. “If Charles Barkley left TNT and went to the LIV Tour, that’s a BIG DEAL. It doesn’t grow the game, now you’re taking the NBA away with it. It has nothing to do with golf, per se.

Patrick was stopped by Seton O’Connor, one of the Dannettes, who questioned why Barkley would have to leave TNT if he joined LIV Golf.

“I don’t know,” admitted Patrick. “Charles is the one who said it.”

Which means Patrick’s source on Barkley may have left TNT and Inside the NBA is Barkley himself. Turner probably won’t be able to compete with the Saudi PIF if he chooses to offer Barkley a monster contract. But according to Barkley’s contract with Turner, could they block him from leaving for LIV Golf, or would they simply agree to a major Saudi-funded league buyout? But before we get to “how will Turner fill the void,” let’s wait and see how Barkley’s supposed reunion on Wednesday night plays out.

[Dan Patrick Show]