Ernie Johnson said Wednesday that he will step away from Inside the NBA after the 2026-27 season, setting up the end of a run that has made him the show’s most familiar face. The 70-year-old said he is not retiring, but cutting back.
That answer matters because Johnson is the name viewers have long tied to Inside the NBA, a show that kept its identity even after moving from TNT to. For anyone searching his future now, the point is simple: the host is preparing for a major change, but not a full exit from sports television.
Johnson said he will keep working on March Madness and other projects for TNT and CBS, and he added that he has started a new production company called 32 Bowties. He said the company is aimed at telling feel-good stories in sports. In his words, “I’ll still do March Madness and other projects for TNT and CBS, and I’ve just started a new production company called 32 Bowties geared toward telling feel-good stories in sports.”
His decision lands with extra weight because of how long he has been part of the sports-TV landscape. Johnson has worked in the media since 1979 and first joined Turner Sports in 1989. Along the way, he has covered Wimbledon, the Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup, and the MLB and NBA playoffs, won six Sports Emmy Awards, and entered the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2023.
The friction in his announcement is built into the wording. Johnson is stepping away from his signature role, but he is careful not to call it retirement. “Just to be clear, I’m not retiring,” he said. “Just cutting back.” That leaves him still active, just no longer centered on the nightly rhythm of Inside the NBA.
He also leaves the show at a time when its core group is still producing the kind of unscripted moments viewers expect. Last week, Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal did a Who He Play For!? segment in which Barkley struggled to name the correct teams for some NBA journeymen. That kind of chemistry has been the show’s calling card for years, and Johnson’s planned departure after the 2026-27 season marks the clearest sign yet that the next version of Inside the NBA will not look quite the same.
Johnson called the move “a turning of the page,” and that is exactly what it is. He is not disappearing from sports television, but the host who helped define the show is preparing to leave its biggest stage behind.
