The Inside the NBA crew may be full of hall of fame basketball players, but their soccer penalties could use some work.
On Monday night’s edition of Inside the NBA, former USMNT defender Demarcus Beasley and USWNT World Cup winner Julie Foudy joined the show. The pair went on to promote TNT and Warner Bros. Discovery’s debut of the USWNT on Tuesday. Foudy and Beasley are both on the coverage team for that game against New Zealand set for 10:05 p.m. ET. It is the debut of US Soccer under its new deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Foudy and Beasley had the Inside the NBA crew set up a small goal. Then, each of the traditional panel members, Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, took one or two shots. Johnson struck the post. However, Kenny Smith tried to deke goalkeeper Charles Barkley by missing a free throw. Unfortunately, the penalty was as wide as the intentional miss on the free throw, making the basketball boys 0/2.
Shaq saved face, though. Like a 7’6 Kylian Mbappé in the World Cup Final, the Big Diesel slotted the penalty past Charles Barkley. Barkley could not get revenge, missing one of his spot kicks and forcing a save out of O’Neal on the other.
Beasley answers the call
Smith, Barkley and O’Neal are greats of the game of basketball, however they looked like newborns playing soccer. Beasley, who played 20 seasons of professional soccer in North America and Europe, had the task of sinking a free throw, perhaps the equivalent in challenge to a penalty.
With all the pressure of Hall of Famers watching and the weight of the soccer world on his shoulders, Beasley sunk the basket from the charity stripe. To be fair, he needed a couple of bounces.
Inside the NBA penalties not first time they practiced soccer
This is not the first time the Inside the NBA crew kicked around a soccer ball. Moreover, the clip from Monday is not Foudy’s first appearance on Inside the NBA. In 2001, during the launch of the Women’s Soccer Association, Foudy took shots against Barkley.
Then, four years ago, Stu Holden and Maurice Edu joined the crew to promote the Champions League on TNT. The Inside the NBA talent took free kicks, still unimpressively.
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