When TNT lost its U.S. national NBA game package, there was fear that we’d no longer see the “Inside the NBA” crew consisting of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal.

Fortunately, they do still appear on ESPN with essentially the same show. That includes a guessing game where Barkley tries to guess what team a more obscure player currently plays for, and Barkley’s answers are usually hilarious.

That was certainly the case again on Thursday night.

Charles Barkley Cracks Up the Hoops World With ‘Inside the NBA’ Segment

Barkley, never shy with his thoughts, started with Mo Wagner, who left the Orlando Magic to join the Brooklyn Nets this offseason, separating him from his brother Franz, Orlando’s star wing. Barkley, however, did not guess the Nets, instead picking the Charlotte Hornets.

He guessed the Milwaukee Bucks for Chicago Bulls veteran guard Buddy Hield and said the Memphis Grizzlies for Taurean Prince, who is on the Detroit Pistons. Barkley did not know Mo Bamba was on the Utah Jazz, thinking he was on the Indiana Pacers, while he guessed Aaron Wiggins was on the Portland Trail Blazers rather than the Atlanta Hawks.

After missing on former NBA veteran and current Mavericks assistant coach Garrett Temple and being egged on by Shaq, Barkley bet he could get four out of five going for a second time. He got Wagner and Bamba correct, but missed on Hield (Barkley guessed the Atlanta Hawks), Prince (Atlanta Hawks), and Wiggins (Detroit Pistons) despite guessing the Hawks, his current team, twice earlier.

It caused the crew to keel over on their desks while the hoops world shared their reactions. Barkley went a third time and missed Hield again, cracking up in the process. This led to priceless reactions from the hoops world.

Johnson took the opportunity to share just how lucky he is. The long-time host of the show wrote, “My “get to” job. This was amazing.”

The Kamenetzky Brothers, Andy and Brian, hosts of the “Locked on Lakers” Podcast, had very high praise for the segment.

“This was the single-greatest segment in Inside the NBA history,”Andy wrote.

Brick Center felt the same way, also offering high praise not just for the segment but for the entire show.

“Inside the NBA is HILARIOUS 😭,” they posted. “Chuck went 0/5 on “Who He Play For.” He tried again with the SAME PLAYERS and went 2/5 after they JUST gave him the answers 🤣.”

Sam Vecenie also offered his thoughts. The veteran writer said he was in tears by the end of the segment.

“I mean, just an all-time TV segment. Making Chuck do Who He Play For multiple times in a row with the same players is a brilliant idea and I was legit crying laughing by the end, my god,” he posted on X.

Plenty of others in the business agreed, including NBC Sports’ John Fanta.

“Absolutely hilarious,” Fanta said. “An all time Inside moment.”

“Good morning. Sports TV doesn’t get better than Charles Barkley trying to tell us which team NBA players are on. Enjoy,” FOX News Media contributor and FS1 host Clay Travis said.

It didn’t matter how many times Barkley went; he was going to miss the same one every time.

“They coulda run it a fourth time Chuck wasn’t gonna get Buddy Hield right,” this fan said. With the crew aging and the show moving to ESPN, many believed that could mark the end for the type of entertainment we get, but now they believe they can do this forever.

“These 4 will never lose their fastball,” this fan wrote.

Let’s hope we continue to see Kenny, Shaq, Ernie, and Chuck on television for years to come.