Kenny Smith recalls Charles Barkley’s hilarious animal bet payoff on live TV

The beloved show “Inside the NBA,” featuring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith, aired its final regular-season episode on Thursday night — and the hosts took a moment to look back on some of their most memorable moments from the show’s history.

Kenny Smith recalled his all-time favorite: the infamous donkey-kissing incident involving Charles Barkley after losing a bet. As Smith told it, the wager was made back in 2002 during Yao Ming’s rookie season, when Barkley boldly claimed the Chinese big man would never drop 20 points in a game.

Yao ended up hitting the 20-point mark six times that year. So to settle the bet, Smith didn’t hold back — he brought an actual donkey onto the set and made Charles Barkley fulfill his promise.

“My favorite moment is when Chuck had never seen Yao Ming play — he was a rookie — and he said, ‘Yao Ming would never score 20 points in a game, Kenny, and if he does, I’ll kiss your ass.’”

Smith said he had to get creative to make the moment count.

“I had to think outside the box,” Smith said. “So I bought in a donkey after Yao Ming scored 20 points, and Charles had to kiss the donkey. But instead of kissing a donkey anywhere, because it isn’t big — a donkey is an ass — he actually kissed the donkey on the ass.”

Barkley chimed in, saying he had no interest in kissing any animal on the mouth — unless it was a dog.

“I’m not going to kiss an animal on the lip,” Barkley said. “I’m not going to kiss it unless it’s a dog.”

“But the butt is better?” Smith asked.

“Yeah,” Barkley answered, as the set broke into laughter.

“Inside the NBA” debuted in 1989, the same year TNT began broadcasting NBA games. Ernie Johnson became the full-time host in 1990 and has remained ever since. Kenny Smith joined in 1998, followed by Charles Barkley in 2000 and Shaq in 2011 after he retired from playing.

Charles Barkley backs Clippers as second-best in the West

With the Western Conference standings in a gridlock, things are far from settled. The OKC Thunder have locked up the top seed, sitting 14 games ahead of the No. 2 Houston Rockets. The Lakers have a firm grip on the third spot with two games left to play.

But the real battle is from seeds 4 to 8 — where just one game separates all five teams.

On Thursday, Charles Barkley made a bold prediction about the conference: after the Thunder, he believes the LA Clippers are next in line.

“I’m gonna say something crazy right now,” Barkley said. “The Clippers might be the second best team in the West.”

“When healthy. But they’re healthy. Hey, Kawhi Leonard’s amazing to me man. … Yes. I think the Clippers are the best team after the Oklahoma City Thunder.”

The Clippers, who are riding a six-game win streak, sit at No. 5 with a 48-32 record — tied with the fourth-place Nuggets. Their final two games are crucial: first against the Sacramento Kings, and then a big showdown with the No. 6 Golden State Warriors, who are just behind them at 47-33.