Turner Sports has signed multiyear contract extensions with "Inside The NBA" studio talent Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal. Johnson is in his 26th year working as a studio host for Turner NBA telecasts. Smith is in his 18th year with "Inside The NBA," Barkley his 16th and O'Neal his fourth. The net announced the new deals yesterday morning at its upfront presentation in N.Y. "We truly believe 'Inside The NBA' is among the best studio shows of all time and a large part of its success is due to the unrivaled chemistry between Ernie, Charles, Kenny and Shaquille," said Turner Sports President Lenny Daniels. "We're looking forward to continuing the creativity and pioneering spirit behind the show for a very long time" (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
STRANGE MEDICINE: In Houston, David Barron writes as Turner Sports' Craig Sager "continues to fight the good fight against leukemia, the chance to watch some playoff basketball in person" last night "was the best medicine Houston could offer." Sager will begin a new round of chemotherapy this morning, and doctors "gave him the option of attending" Clippers-Rockets at Toyota Center. Sager responded, "Hell yes, I'm going." He was "greeted by his Turner Sports colleagues, including play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan, and exchanged hugs" with Rockets G James Harden before the game. Sager: "It was quite a shock when the leukemia came back. They gave me a drug to try to put me back in remission, and it didn't work, and they said in Atlanta they had gone to their best option and maybe I should try looking at different options." Sager said that he will "undergo five days of chemotherapy in an effort to get back into remission." Barron notes if the treatment succeeds, he will "undergo a second bone marrow transplant and will remain in Houston for about a hundred days following that procedure" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 5/13).
