Barkley's round mountainous rebound: Not this weekend, at least

Unless something drastic happens between now and TNT's coverage of the NBA All-Star game, the perfect scenario for Charles Barkley to return to the cable network in his hometown of Phoenix this weekend won't happen, according to several sources.

Barkley faces a DUI from a Dec. 31 arrest and was given a leave of absence last month when test results showed he had a blood-alcohol level at .149, nearly twice the legal limit of .08 in Arizona.

The Sports Business Journal reported that a TNT spokesman said Barkley's leave will continue through the All-Star weekend, despite the fact the network draws its best rating and it would be a natural time for Barkley to resurface.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me to give him some time off to get his legal matters straight and to get his personal life in order," Turner Sports president David Levy told SBJ. "The question is, when is the right time to bring him back? There is no magic answer to that. It's just a gut feel."

ESPN.com is reporting that a source said TNT, while it waited for results of the blood test, considered suspending Barkley if the results showed his blood-alcohol content was over the legal limit.

So bottom line: There's no date picked for his return to "Inside the NBA." Or for how he's going to talk his way back in.

"We haven't really thought about it, but I'm sure Charles will have something to say," Levy told the SBJ. "What's really nice is that he's had so much support from a lot of people in this challenging time for him. He's humbled a little bit."