The “Inside the NBA” crew is known for being particularly tight-knit, and Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith all rose to the occasion on Tuesday night.
Before TNT’s telecast of Heat-Mavericks, they all paid tribute to host Ernie Johnson’s son Michael, who died last week at the age of 33 after suffering from a rare genetic disorder.
“We’re hurting right now because Ernie is a brother,” O’Neal said. “He’s more than a brother to me. We looked up to him. When I got the text that day, it just hurt. I’m still kind of hurt from my sister passing from COVID, and I’m trying to get over that. To see a great man like this hurt, it just makes all of us hurt.”
O’Neal said that there were three people growing up whose awareness he coveted: Dick Vitale, Bill Raftery and Ernie Johnson. He reminisced about meeting Michael at Johnson’s house and how Michael knew more about cars than he did.
Smith talked about having worked with Johnson for 20 years and the blessing and curse of experiencing all the great and sad moments with colleagues — the highs of winning Emmys and Ernie having his first grandchild, and the lows of deaths in their families.
“To see Michael when Ernie and his wife would come around with him — we always talk about lighting up the room,” Smith said. “It’s a gravitational pull. Some people have a gravitational pull no matter who they are and how they are. Michael had a gravitational pull that you would move towards him in that respect. Ernie’s usually the person that we lean on — Ernie: this is the first time that you need to lean on us.”
Barkley talked about how poignant it was that Ernie and his wife, Cheryl, adopted Michael with special needs, and how they gave him a wonderful life.
“That story just makes me appreciate Ernie and his wife, Cheryl — that just shows us what type of guy we’re working with,” he said.