Beloved broadcaster Ernie Johnson will step down as host of \u201cInside the NBA\u201d following the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just time,\u201d Johnson, 70, said Wednesday in a video posted to social media.<\/p>\n
Johnson made it clear in his message that he was not pushed out of the role, nor retiring but just \u201cjust cutting back\u201d \u2014\u00a0and that he would continue to work, most notably on CBS and Turner Sports\u2019 coverage of the NCAA men\u2019s basketball tournament. The Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductee also cited heart issues in recent years as a factor in his decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is by no means the end,\u201d Johnson said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s just a turning of the page. And I\u2019ll forever cherish every chapter we have written with \u2019Inside the NBA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson is in his 37th season as host of \u201cInside the NBA,\u201d the popular pre- and post-game show also featuring retired NBA players Shaquille O\u2019Neal (who joined in 2011), Charles Barkley (2000) and Kenny Smith (1998). The show, which moved from TNT to ESPN and ABC last season, has won 21 Sports Emmy Awards.<\/p>\n
Barkley said in September that he is expected the 2026-27 NBA season to be his last on the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cErnie Johnson is one of sports media\u2019s most respected and beloved figures,\u201d ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. \u201cFor more than three decades, he has been the heart of \u2018Inside the NBA,\u2019 helping create one of the most iconic and entertaining studio shows in sports. We are grateful for Ernie\u2019s extraordinary contributions and look forward to celebrating him throughout the season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beloved broadcaster Ernie Johnson will step down as host of \u201cInside the NBA\u201d following the 2026-27 season. \u201cIt\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":944773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,142829,24059,590,85],"class_list":["post-944772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ernie-johnson","tag-inside-the-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}