Charles Barkley does not want to stick around on TV too long.
The NBA on TNT analyst said on a recent media conference that when his contract expires in two years that will be it for his broadcasting career.
“I just don’t feel the need to work until the day I die,” Barkley said, via the Dallas Morning News. “I don’t, man. 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 over [by] fat-ass Shaq [waiting] to drop dead.”
Barkley, who turns 59 on Sunday, has been with TNT since 2000 following a Hall of Fame NBA career. He has hinted at retirement before, including before signing his current deal in 2015, and several times after.
Shaquille O’Neal, his fellow studio analyst whom Barkley does not want to die next to, does not seem to believe him.
“He’s never gonna quit,” O’Neal said on the “Marchand and Ourand” podcast back in November. “Charles is gonna be here forever. We need him, and he needs us. I’m convinced that if I’m retired and I don’t do nothing, I will falter away. This is what we do and what we live for. It’s what we’ve been doing, and we need each other.”
“…I’ve been here 11 years. I’ve heard that spiel before, but he’s gonna be here till the wheels fall off.”
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