‘It’s been a great run’: Charles Barkley confirms plan to retire from ‘Inside the NBA’

Multiple NBA Media Days were held on Monday, and former Suns legend turned analyst Charles Barkley got in on the action by confirming that he still intends for the upcoming 2026-27 NBA season to be his last on Inside the NBA.

“I’m looking forward to this last year,” Barkley said, per Davis Baker of WSFA 12 News in Alabama. “TV has been great to me. I’m gonna take a step back from public life. I’m gonna always come to Auburn, though. I wanted to make that perfectly clear. People ask me, and I say, yeah, I’m stepping back from public life after this year.”

Charles Barkley confirms that this will be his last year on TV doing ‘Inside the NBA’.

“I’m going to take a step back from public life…I’ve had the greatest life a person can have.”@wsfa12news @wsfa12sports pic.twitter.com/jG3zIBGZhB

— Davis Baker (@DavisBakerTV) September 28, 2026

“It’s been a great run,” Barkley added. “It’s been a great journey. I thank everybody for their support all these years, but I’ll be 64 years old. Ernie [Johnson] asked me to stay a couple more years. Last year was one; this year is two. But I feel really good. This is going to be more like a celebration, because, man, I’ve had the greatest life a person can have.”

Barkley’s announcement comes after he told The Ringer’s Bill Simmons that “next year is my last year, 100 percent” and hinted that Ernie Johnson also planned to retire after the upcoming 2026-27 NBA season.

Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports went on to report that “Johnson’s decision is still up in the air.”

It’s worth noting that Barkley has he has flirted with retiring from  Inside the NBA for years, and even, at times, dared ESPN to fire him from the iconic show on which he has starred alongside Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith.

This, however, seems like the most serious Barkley has ever been about making this season his own sort of retirement tour from NBA media.