Rich Reacts to Ernie Johnson Announcing This Will be His Final ‘Inside the NBA’ Season

Rich found out during a commercial break, and by the time the show came back on the simulcast he was ready to say what a lot of people were thinking. Ernie Johnson has announced he will step down as host of Inside the NBA at the end of this season.

"For all of us who are massive fans of Ernie and this show, a heartbreaker," Rich said.

He was quick to frame it the right way. Ernie, he said, is "a family man, an incredible dude," and he wants to spend time doing other things. "It will be our loss, but his gain," Rich said, and the gain of everyone around him. Rich also made sure to note that this is not a health matter. "He's not going anywhere. He's just stepping away from an iconic role."

What makes Ernie irreplaceable, in Rich's view, is what he does as a host, which is something "only he can do because of who he is." Rich laid out his own definition of the job. "The mark of a good host as far as I'm concerned is somebody who makes everyone around him or her better. And is somebody you want to hang with." A great host will steer things on occasion, make you laugh, make you think, "but otherwise step back and let everybody else around him or her do their thing."

Then do it again. Rich borrowed a line he uses with his own crew: "Fresh coat of paint every day." What worked last show and the show before was great, but it has to happen again and again. "And Ernie has done that for decades."

The personalities Ernie has meshed together, Rich said, are "some of the all-time greats and non-wallflowers." And the show works just as well when one of Shaq, Kenny or Charles isn't there and a player fresh off the court is "kicking the tires" on media. "Ernie gets a lot of credit for that and he won't take it," Rich said. "That's another thing, humility. He's so great at it."

Rich shared the moment he will never forget, from one of the many times he was at the Sports Emmys losing to Ernie. Stuart Scott had just passed. Ernie won, as he has many times, and gave the award to Stuart's daughters. "It's just a perfect encapsulation of his humility and empathy and humanity," Rich said.

He admitted he was gushing and kept going anyway. Inside the NBA, he said, is one of the all-time great studio shows, and calling it the platinum standard undersells it. "It's a more precious metal than what Inside the NBA has done." Rich said he would fire off a text of congratulations to Ernie and predicted "a remarkable final few months" full of outpourings of well wishes, starting right there on the show.

"Good luck to the person who's got to fill his shoes," one crew member said. Rich agreed and admitted he doesn't know what happens to the show, with the studio noting Charles has always said he's not going to keep doing it either. "Ernie's gone, Chuck might be gone." Rich also floated a joke theory: maybe Ernie looked at the Knicks winning it and decided his work was done. "What else I got to stick around for?"

When the conversation drifted toward whose turn might come, Rich caught himself. "I'm sorry I made this about me," he said. "After I said it, a mark of a good host is humility. My bad."

The bottom line for Rich is simple. He can't wait to watch as many of these final shows as possible and soak it all in.