Kobe Bryant may have played his last NBA game in his illustrious career, but is he being courted to join the basketball analysts on Turner’s Inside the NBA?
Earlier this NBA season, Inside the NBA’s Kenny Smith wished for the aging Kobe Bryant to join he, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and Ernie Johnson on Turner Sports’ preeminent NBA pre-game show.
According to TMZ Sports, that may be coming to fruition, as Inside the NBA has reportedly reached out to Bryant to see if he wants to join the fantastic basketball talk show panel.
Since Bryant’s abysmal Los Angeles Lakers failed to reach the 2016 Western Conference Playoffs, one has to wonder if Turner Sports reached out to Bryant for him to join the cast for the 2016 NBA Playoffs or if this could turn into a long-term arrangement as a full-time member of the team.
While Bryant could absolutely offer an interesting dynamic to the group from his phenomenal Hall of Fame NBA career, having five men on a pre-game panel could prove problematic. Yes, ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown made it work with five and even six analysts, but whose toes would Bryant step on if he joined Inside the NBA full-time in 2016-17?
It wouldn’t be Barkley or Johnson because Sir Charles has a unique basketball perspective and Johnson is the ringleader of the gang. If Smith is cool with Bryant joining the team, it shouldn’t be an issue.
However, the relationship Bryant had with O’Neal as teammates in Los Angeles could again cause friction on the set should they work together again on the same starting five. Bryant has definitely mellowed out over the years from when he and O’Neal starred for the Three-Peat Lakers under head coach Phil Jackson in the early 2000s.
We’ll just have to wait and see if Bryant does want to make the immediate jump from the hardwood to television in 2016-17. He may have the chops to be a great basketball analyst, but he could very well want some time to decompress after the grind of a one-of-a-kind Hall of Fame NBA career.
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