"People I work with screwed this up so badly": Riled up Charles Barkley unloads on TNT's handling of NBA broadcasting rights

Charles Barkley got some things off his chest on Thursday at the Dan Patrick Show. The NBA legend is a member of TNT's Inside the NBA crew, whose future is up in the air.

Amid ongoing negotiations for the NBA TV rights, TNT appears to be close to losing them to NBC/Peacock. Barkley isn't happy with the way the situation has been handled and sent a message to his bosses, claiming they 'screwed things up.'

“Morale sucks, plain and simple. You know, I just feel so bad for the people I work with Dan,” Barkley said. “These people I work with, they’ve screwed this thing up clearly.

"And we don’t have zero idea what’s going to happen. I don’t feel good. I’m not gonna lie, especially when they came out yesterday and said we bought college football. I was like, well damn, they could have used that money to buy the NBA.” (0:23 mark)

Barkley added that in case TNT loses the NBA TV rights, he would be interested in bringing Inside the NBA back to life, but it wouldn't be under the same name.

“I have my own production company, I would love to do that if we lose it (NBA rights),” Barkley said.

“Actually, somebody suggested that to me, to be honest with you, on the internet. 'So why doesn’t Charles Barkley sign these three, guys four guys total to his production company and sell it?’ I’m like, ‘That’s a great idea.'”

Barkley admitted that he has discussed this idea with Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith, two of his three co-hosts in the TNT show.

Ernie Johnson is apparently set to stay with the company working on different sports, meaning he would be the only original cast member to miss out on the potential Inside the NBA reboot.

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Charles Barkley's Inside the NBA run to end after next season

On Wednesday, Sports Business Journal reported that the NBA has finalized a deal with NBC, ESPN and Amazon for the league's TV rights. That pretty much marks the end of an era for Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson.

Even though the deal is close to its completion, the same report suggests that Warner-Brothers Discovery still has the chance to make an offer in an attempt to ruin this deal.

According to reports, TNT would need to pay $2.8 billion to outbid NBC, which has more options to broadcast NBA content.