“You only work one day a week” - Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith trolls Charles Barkley his retirement plans
Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith have been working together on the air for NBA on TNT since 2000. With Barkley contemplating retirement when his contract expires in 2024, Smith joked that they are all retired because they only work once a week on Thursdays.
In a recent appearance on Stephen A.'s World on ESPN, Stephen A. Smith asked "The Jet" about his thoughts on the possibility of Barkley retiring when his deal ends.
Kenny Smith noted that he always tells "Chuck" that he can still work once a week and play golf for the remaining six days.
"I always laugh when he tells me he's going to retire. I'm like, 'Bro, we only work one day a week.' Like we only work on Thursdays. We really are retired. We only work on Thursdays until playoffs. We only work one day. We got six days off a week so you can play golf six days," Kenny said.
Kenny Smith further explained that he, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Ernie Johnson only do real work in May and June because of the NBA playoffs. For the regular season, the crew only works once a week.
During the NFL regular season, they are on the air on Tuesdays before moving to Thursdays at the start of the NFL postseason. Inside the NBA covers all of the playoff games from the first round to the conference finals. The crew also does additional work in March to cover the NCAA tournament.
Kenny Smith thinks he'll retire if Charles Barkley retires
In a conference call last Tuesday, Charles Barkley opened up about the possibility of retiring from broadcasting in 2024 when his deal with Turner ends. Barkley, who started his career as an analyst in 2000, does not want to work forever and die on television.
"I just don’t feel the need to work until the day I die. I'll be 61 years old if I finish out my contract, and I don't want to die on TV. I want to die on the golf course or somewhere fishing. I don't want to be sitting beside old fat-a** Shaq and drop dead," Barkley said.
Charles Barkley has reiterated his hope to retire after his TNT contract expires in two years.
"I don't want to die on TV," he said on a media call.
"I want to die on the golf course or somewhere fishing. I don't want to be sitting next to old fat-a** Shaq and drop dead." https://t.co/77wyDnrvjS
Kenny Smith revealed on ESPN that Barkley has been talking about his plans to retire for some time now. But Smith believes Barkley will have a hard time saying goodbye to broadcasting. He added that he'll probably retire if Barkley calls it quits because the dynamic won't be the same.
"He's been saying it, that he does want to retire, but Charles could not. I don't think he could disappear in the sunset. And I say, if he retires, I'm going to think about retiring because I don't know if the show would be the same without him, myself and Shaq together. It would be a different environment," Smith said.