The crew from “Inside the NBA on TNT” took over The Complex in downtown Salt Lake City, broadcasting their Thursday night show live from the home of the 2023 All-Star Weekend.
Before going on the air, Charles Barkley, Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Shaquille O’Neal met with reporters to talk about the NBA, the upcoming All-Star events, Salt Lake City, the Utah Jazz and of course, All-Star starter Lauri Markkanen and the Jazz’s Rising Star, Walker Kessler.
When asked if Markkanen deserved to be an All-Star, Barkley and Smith didn’t hesitate for a second.
“(Expletive) yeah!” Barkley said emphatically, noting that Markkanen was an easy selection. “I said that like two months ago. He deserved to make the All-Star team. He’s been fabulous.”
O’Neal added to the list of people who see shades of Dirk Nowitzki in Markkanen’s game, and Smith went on to say that he thinks this is just the first of many All-Star appearances for Markkanen. Smith also credited Will Hardy and the Jazz coaching staff for elevating Markkanen’s game.
“He’s a perennial All-Star,” Smith said. “He’s found his game ... you could see flashes at different places, but someone wasn’t able to bring it out of him, and allow him to participate in that every moment. And the coaching staff here has figured that out. He’s a perennial All-Star.”
The TNT crew were pretty unanimous in believing that the Jazz aren’t that far off from being a contending team and have been impressed with Hardy in his first year as head coach. Smith said the Jazz are just one or two guys away from being a top-4 seed in the Western Conference and that they’re on the right track.
Barkley said that Utah being a “small market” doesn’t really matter with the assets that the Jazz have and made sure to point out that the majority of the NBA cities aren’t considered destination cities. So with the foundation that the Jazz have moving forward, they just have to focus on making good decisions with the roster and hitting in the draft when they use picks.
“Let’s be realistic,” Barkley said. “There’s very few places people want to go. I mean, nobody ever said — no disrespect and you say Utah — I don’t remember people saying let me go to San Antonio, or Indiana, or Sacramento. So you just have to really draft well. And y’all got 102 draft picks.”
Barkley said that the thing he’s most looking forward to this weekend is a party that he and former Jazzman Karl Malone are hosting on Friday night. Smith said that while he’s looking forward to all the festivities of the weekend, he’s always in awe during All-Star Weekend because of the amount of NBA greatness that is all in one place at the same time.
“It’s just like watching my trading cards walk through the city,” Smith said. “There’s the game itself, obviously. But just watching those guys kind of move around and see Dr. J and Steph Curry, Shaq. It’s just walking trading cards in Utah right now.”