Ernie Johnson picks his five funniest Inside the NBA moments over 35 years, from the Champions Club locking out Charles Barkley to Shaq pulling a monitor off the wall. He discusses the show moving from TNT to ESPN/ABC while keeping the core crew together, and shares behind-the-scenes stories of drag races and drone footage from Georgia Tech.
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Could you do your top 5 Inside the NBA moments that you've experienced in your 35 years?
Yeah, let's see. Some of 'em will be, this is tough to do, but some of them will be like just clowning on the guys and that kind of thing. Probably the Champions Club ranks up there where we locked Charles out of the studio for halftime 'cause he didn't have a ring. Only champions could get in. I think the Kenny against Charles diaper changing contest where we melted a little Butterfinger microwave and put it inside the diaper and Charles nearly fainted. Let's see, retiring Kenny's jersey. That was so funny. That was so funny. On the clothesline. I would say— He was so upset about that. Oh, are you serious? He was hot. He was so hot. I've seen how this works. I'm getting out of here. I remember, yeah. I would think Shaq, whether he's falling or being pushed into Christmas trees or the night that he actually got his foot wrapped around the cable and pulled the monitor out of the set. That goes up there. But here's the deal, and I'll bring it back to, I'll be real. The show I'll never forget is the one we did in LA after Kobe died.
Mm.
Because they canceled the game, but we went out there and did the show mid-court, nobody in the arena, and just talked about him. And for like Shaq, it was the first time he had a chance to talk about Kobe.
Wow.
You know, we bring Jerry West on and he's bawling. You know, it was the most powerful show I've ever been a part of. And it was just so real and so raw. And it was, and it just, I think it was just a demonstration of the fact that, yeah, we can have some really ridiculous times on our show and we can make you laugh and you can, go to work the next day and talk about, "Did you see what those clowns did?" But also they'll say, "Man, did you see, did you see that tribute to Kobe last night?" And that was, you know, that's probably, that's, that's the thing. If I had to look at it right now and say the thing I will never forget about that show was that night.
Last calendar year, little before the season started, we obviously learned the fate of TNT Sports and the landscape of what, what the land, the media landscape would be in the NBA. Absolutely thrilled that Inside The NBA won't, won't be going away, uh, as TNT Sports will continue to produce it independently. The new addition will be that ESPN will feature the show at high-profile NBA events next season, such as the NBA Finals, which is also a different thing for you guys. How excited are you to finally get a chance to cover the NBA Finals next season after all of these years?
That's, that's gonna be a very cool part of this thing. Because there's always a feeling at the end of our playoff run. And I've been fortunate, you know, I'm always part of that trophy presentation with, you know, to the Eastern or Western Conference champions. And it's— and then you— and then all of a sudden you go back and do the postgame show and then it's over and we've done all the Gone Fishing pictures and it's done. I mean, it's— Yeah.— it's just a whole flat done. And then you go back and you watch the Finals and you're like, oh wow, it'd be great to be there for that. So to be part of that next year is really cool. You know, we look forward to that very much.
Yeah.
But the biggest thing about this whole change, look, it's not easy. You know, this NBA on TNT brand, has been around since before you were born, Draymond Green. And, you know, and, and it was, you know, we've had games on TBS or TNT for better than 40 years. And so there have been these, these, these moments this year that give you cause for reflection. I mean, I remember being in Boston for opening night and standing there and saying, Wow, this is really the last year of the NBA on TNT. And I felt the same thing at All-Star Weekend. That was our last All-Star Game. Our first was 2003 in Atlanta and looked like Michael in his last All-Star Game was getting the MVP. And there was foul late and Kobe hit free throws and Kevin Garnett was the MVP. And man, it's a blink. All of a sudden we're sitting there in San Francisco and saying, this is the last one. It's the last one of these All-Star Games that we're gonna do. Yeah. So that part's been difficult, but I'm glad that we're able to salvage the show even though it's not going to be on TNT. And as many times as I've tried to explain to folks how this works, it's all like, huh?
What?
What are you talking about? You're going to keep doing the show, but it's not going to be on TNT? Well, where's it going to be? Well, when you tune into some of these nights on ABC or ESPN, the pregame show is going to be us. We're going to still be doing it in Atlanta. We're just not going to be saying the NBA on TNT. I'll see how many— I don't know what the over-under will be for me on times that I speak. But yeah, to stay together with those guys, to stay together with our production crew, that's really important.
Yeah.
You know, it's the, I guess, the business of basketball. You know, these things—
Sure.
Sometimes it happens. You know, I've been part of— you know, we had the NFL for a while, then we lost it. You know, I did the PGA Championship forever. And then we, you know, when the rights were up, we didn't get it. And, you know, the British Open, it happens and we've been through it. But I'm just glad that that core, not just the guys on the air, but that whole production crew was still, you know, we'll just do it. We'll just see it in a different place. Share a moment in the career that you did something un-basketball related. I remember we made burritos, we did the Indy race where everybody kept calling me a getaway driver. And Charlotte, what are some of those moments that you enjoy, you know, from the show that you guys do, you know, off campus or activities? What are one of those moments? That was one, the one in Charlotte was really fun 'cause we went to the drag, yeah, went to the drag strip up there. There and got to have those. And I'm still ticked off because I had Candace Parker beat and then something happened to my car. But we had that big race at Georgia Tech. All of this based on Kenny running to the board all the time, you know. And by the way, he never challenges Draymond on that race to the board when Dray comes and visits us.
Yeah.
Because Dray gets to the board in about 2.5 steps. And, but so that led to this big, we're gonna have a 100-meter dash at Georgia Tech. And it's me and Weber, Chuck, Shaq, and Kenny. Again, this also probably available online somewhere, but it was, you know, everybody's woofing, everybody's saying why they're gonna win. And it was such a bogus start.
Yeah.
Not me. I'm the idiot who says, I'm just, I'm waiting on the gun. And I was the only guy waiting on the gun. Start that 100 meters. And so I immediately stand up and I say, false start, false start. Ain't nobody listening to me. They're going. And Chuck, I mean, I know I would have beaten Chuck because he hasn't finished yet. And, and, and Shaq pulls a hammy with about 20 yards to go, and he's actually winning and is coasting to the finish line, and then Weber passes him right at the line and breaks the tape. And that was the whole, you got to run through the tape thing. But yeah, but it was, it was, again, it was one of those things where it was like, who, who thinks this up, you know? Who, and who pulls it off? And because we were using— this is years ago before drones even became that big a thing. And we're looking around and these things are buzzing around. They're shooting this with drones. They're dead. And it was tremendous. I just— those are the things that set us apart, I think. Those are the things that's like, we'll do anything. And some of it will be great and some of it might not be funny at all and might not work. But man, we're going to shoot our shot and we'll see. So I think, yeah, I think that the historical—
That was a great moment.
100-meter dash, that was the— That was certainly one of them.
We've spoke about it. You've had a long career. Is there one thing out there, doesn't have to be in sports or anything, is there one thing out there that you look at and you say, I still, I haven't done that, but I want to do that thing before I'm done?
You know what? I have been able to condition myself, Draymond, to appreciate what I have been able to do and not what I haven't been able to do. So, No, I never give that a thought. I never say, "Boy, this has been great, but I really want to do this." I have what I call a get-to job, not a got-to job. We've all seen folks at the traffic light who are driving to got-to jobs. "I'm doing this because I got to go to this." I got a get-to job. I get to go down there and hang out with these 4 or these 3 guys. And I've been able to do that for 35 years. So I've always been focused on what I get to do and never a regret and never a, boy, my career could be complete if I could just do this. Uh-uh. That's not the way it works for me.
