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# Ernie Johnson announced his retirement from "Inside the NBA" today, we're all sad
- URL: https://www.poorsportsmanship.net/ernie-johnson-announced-his-retirement-from-inside-the-nba-today-were-all-sad/
- Published: 2026-10-29T16:18:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-29T16:18:40.000Z
- Description: Ernie Johnson is leaving Inside the NBA after 37 years. A thank-you to the man who made basketball feel like a conversation between friends.
- Author: Poor Sportsmanship

Ernie Johnson has hosted “Inside the NBA” for 37 years, today he announced that this season will be his last

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Every NBA fan's favorite uncle, grandfather, brother and friend announced his retirement from the league’s biggest pregame/halftime/postgame attraction. EJ was the glue that held Inside’s broadcast together, and everyone who watched knew it. If you haven’t seen the segment from Wednesday's show where the guys give Johnson his flowers, it is well worth a listen.

> The Inside The NBA crew reacts to Ernie Johnson announcing this will be his last season on the show ❤️ [pic.twitter.com/kLF2foSLgl](https://t.co/kLF2foSLgl?ref=poorsportsmanship.net)
> 
> — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) [October 28, 2026](https://x.com/SportsCenter/status/2115569434169364836?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=poorsportsmanship.net)

Inside the NBA segment from 28 October 2026

Growing up around Los Angeles, I was a massive Lakers fan. I kept up with the whole league pretty well. As I grew up, my interest in being a regular viewer of weekday basketball dwindled. Thankfully, the NBA on TNT youtube channel uploaded most of the clips from each broadcast, and in that, my interest never dwindled.

I kept up with box scores just so I could have some background game info before I watched Chuck, Shaq and Kenny not talk about basketball. 

Ernie managed to keep three lovable knuckleheads relatively in check every night; and the moments where he couldn’t often made for the best TV. His warmth felt like it radiated through the screen. There are not many professionals out there that can make a broadcast feel like a conversation between friends that involve both the cohosts and the audience. 

As an aspiring sports journalist, and aspiring good, decent human being, Johnson has long been one of my role models. I remember an E:60 piece, or one of those other longform heartfelt pieces that ESPN does, about him and his son Michael. Ernie and his wife Cheryl adopted Michael from a Romanian orphanage when he was three-years-old. Michael was born with a progressive form of muscular dystrophy, and given little chance to make it past the age of 20\. He made it to 33, passing in 2021\. The video piece showed how Ernie interacted with his son, who was one of his four adopted kids, bathing him, ribbing him and adoring him.

That stuck with me. To me, that’s what a “real man” looks like. Ernie is damn good at his job; that’s the only way someone sticks around for as long as he has in such a ruthlessly competitive industry. He’s also a damn good man. There seems to be fewer and fewer prominent public figures that we, as fans, can look up to both on and off their respective fields, courts, rings or broadcast booths. EJ is not one of those guys that you have to say “you gotta separate the art from the artist.” The art is just that because of the artist. 

Saying that “Inside the NBA” will not be the same without him seems like a hell of an understatement. Thankfully, in his retirement announcement he posted to Twitter/X, he told fans that this was not a retirement from sports media as a whole. He says he’s had heart issues in recent years, and wants to spend more time with his wife of 44 years and his five grandchildren. Johnson says he will still be a part of March Madness, and “other projects with TNT and CBS.” Additionally he says that he has started a new production company called “32 Bowties,” which will focus on telling feel-good stories in sports. EJ’s got at least one viewer in me. 

I’ll miss the voice of Ernie Johnson as much as I think I have ever missed a voice on TV. As an infrequent NBA regular-season viewer, I’ll be setting a personal record for games watched this year, so I can soak in all the EJ I can while he’s still here to appreciate.