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Early ESPN NBA Coverage Schedule Has Fans Worried About ‘Inside the NBA’

The NBA schedule is slowly being announced and fans are starting to get an idea of what their viewing habits will look like this season. The season starts on NBC for the first time in 23 years and games will be streaming on Peacock. And while you won't be tuning into TNT, you'll have a chance to see the Inside the NBA crew on ESPN on October 22nd.

According to Sports Media Watch, Inside the NBA is currently scheduled in a 30-minute time slot following ESPN's first doubleheader of the season. The show, which is being licensed from Turner, will air from approximately 12:05 to 12:35 a.m. and lead into SportsCenter.

You may recall that Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith used to appear on a pregame show, halftime of both games of TNT doubleheaders and then about an hour postgame depending on how late the games ran.

It sounded like the plan was to not change anything on ESPN.

The show will reportedly air live during ABC/ESPN's biggest events, like the NBA Finals, conference finals and playoffs, as well as opening week and Christmas Day. Which means that we might not see them again after opening night until Christmas. Front Office Sports said NBA Countdown would be "second-string" to Inside the NBA, but it seems like we may not know about any of this until it's actually on—or off—our screens this season.