Shaquille O’Neal Calls Charles Barkley’s Retirement Announcement a ‘Marketing’ Gimmick

Earlier in September, Charles Barkley shockingly announced his retirement plans on The Bill Simmons Podcast. Apparently, Barkley and Inside the NBA co-host Ernie Johnson made a pact to retire together after agreeing to extend their stay on the show a couple of years ago.

Despite Chuck's serious sentiments regarding retirement, co-host Shaquille O'Neal isn't buying into the idea. While O'Neal isn't entirely opposed to Barkley's retirement, he has a feeling that it could be a plot to get more people to tune in to watch the show come the 2026-27 regular season.

"Charles is like the big brother I never had," O'Neal told Front Office Sports. "Charles is really good at marketing. Like, he says things because once somebody taught Charles how to go viral, it was over. So, do I believe (Barkley's retirement)? No, I don't believe it. But if it happens, it was a great run. We had fun. But I don't believe that."

As mentioned earlier, Barkley and Johnson became a package deal. Initially, Chuck wanted to step away from television and public life at the age of 60. However, when that day arrived, Ernie specifically requested that Charles stick around so that Inside the NBA wouldn't sink.

In 2024 and 2025, the show dealt with adversity due to TNT's eventual loss of its NBA broadcast rights. This led to Barkley's pondering retirement. Johnson, on the other hand, recognized that the NBA legend's departure would significantly hurt the show further, which could've also affected the livelihood of other staff members behind the scenes.

Due to Ernie's compelling argument, he managed to convince Charles to stay a bit longer. Unfortunately, a 63-year-old man can only go so far. After 27 years of TV entertainment, it's safe to say that Barkley has earned his right to go out the way he wants to.

Charles Barkley Addresses Problem With NBA Stars Making $70 M

Before the mid-1990s, no NBA player had ever earned $15 million or more in a single season - a threshold today's stars routinely blow past.

For example, back in the 1995-96 season, the highest-paid player was Patrick Ewing, who had an annual salary of $18.7 million. That's significantly lower than the likes of Stephen Curry, who is set to make $62.5 million in the 2026-27 season alone.

With that in mind, NBA legend Charles Barkley finds it bizarre that players who make astronomical figures today have the audacity to sit out games, even when they're not injured.

"It’s embarrassing," Barkley said on the Wingmen podcast. "Listen, now this is going to sound stupid when I say it. The most money I made was $5 million, and I know that’s a lot of money. For guys to be making 30, 40, 50, 60, $70 million, to tell an average person they can’t play basketball two days in a row, it’s embarrassing."

"It’s disappointing. It’s selfish because, especially if you’re a great player, these people already pay crazy money to come to our game," Barkley continued.

According to Spotrac, Barkley's total career NBA salary reached $40.6 million. That's more or less how much an All-Star player would typically make per year in today's NBA.

Despite earning a significantly smaller salary during his playing career, Barkley missed only 207 of 1,280 NBA regular-season games. He missed only 16% of the games in his 16-year career. With that in mind, it's understandable why Chuck would be bewildered by the excuses NBA players make today.