by Charles Barkley will join the ESPN talent stable next season. He does not seem to be interested in making friends while he is there.
The Hall of Famer was confronted with his future colleagues with a long diatribe during “Inside The NBA” on Thursday, starting with a direct shot to Kendrick Perkins before expanding it to the partiality of ESPN to the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors, then raised the debate of Lebron James-Michael Jordan.
The impulse was perkins saying that the Lakers, with their business for Luka Donฤiฤ and the sequence of victories of seven games that followed, “saved the NBA”. Barkley begged to postpone, noting that the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder were much better teams from all season.
He referred to the Talent of ESPN as “idiots to the other network” and “idiots”, before conceding that he and his teammates “Inside The NBA” will also become fools on the other network.
Charles Barkley comes out of the coverage of the Lakers / Warriors (and the debates of LeBron James / Michael Jordan) of “The Fools on the Other Network (ESPN), which we are going to work for next year”. ๐๐บ๐๏ธ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅโ ๏ธ pic.twitter.com/0ryvl0h4ix
– Horrible Andrfection (@Awfulannouning) March 7, 2025
Here is the two -minute diatriber in all its glory:
“I saw an idiot, an idiot on television talking about the Lakers saving the NBA. He is an idiot and a fool. We know he is. What is his name, Shaq? Kendrick Perkins. He said that the Lakers had saved the NBA season.
“Let me tell you something. First of all, I want all the smoke. I don’t whistle when I go near the cemetery or something like that. Lakers are doing very well. Problem with that.
“The Cleveland Cavaliers won 12 consecutive games. Oklahoma City obtained the MVP and they are on fire. You are all talking about who is in second place. This is the reason why I am upset.
“Hey, Lakers are going very well. I don’t mind being wrong. The Warriors are going very well, but that causes you fools on the other network, which we will become fools next year because we will work on this network, but Oklahoma City and the Cavs have swept away for six months. You are talking about all the teams that spent two big weeks.
Barkley continued to complain about the speaking ESPN “of the same things every day” before targeting the debate on Jordan-James:
“This debate by LeBron James-Michael Jordan by LeBron James.
Some at ESPN will probably not like to hear this, but there could also be people who do not care about Barkley to embrace the debate, even if it is the debate itself, before making the jump next season.
Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson are about to bring “inside the NBA”, perhaps the most beloved studio program of sports broadcasting, in ESPN next season as part of a license agreement after the mother company of TNT, Warner Bros. Discovery lost its NBA rights.
Lakers and warriors have great interest since their swing their respective trades against Donฤiฤ and Jimmy Butler. Los Angeles is on a sequence of seven consecutive victories and now occupies second place in the West, while Golden State has left the game area and is currently in sixth place. The Thunder and the riders remain the best teams of their conference, as they did for most of the season.
