LeBron James fired all his bullets at Charles Barkley, and each one bounced right off.
Barkley is one of the most magnetic voices in the NBA, even without James dragging his name into the headlines. But for James to criticize Barkley only enhances his image, and puts the TNT analyst right back where he wants to be.
Barkley claimed he was indifferent to James’ reply. He was too busy worrying about his golf game to worry about what James had to say. He cared so little about it that he did two interviews on the subject (ESPN Radio and The Undefeated) and talked about it at again during “Inside the NBA” on Thursday night.
“It’s been fun for me sitting back, listening and watching,” Barkley said on TNT. “I’ve been playing golf the past two days and people left me a bunch of messages on my jackass phone. I have two phones: a private cell and a jackass phone for the rest of the people. The jackass phone has been blowing it up. Thank God I don’t keep it with me.”
Translation: I don’t care about this controversy, and I ignored it completely. Well, except for talking about it at length three times now.
Barkley’s point all week has been that it is his job is to critique basketball players, which is what he did when he called James “whiny” for going on a tirade about perceived holes on the Cavaliers roster. Barkley said he will never make it personal with James or any other player in the league, though James made it uniquely personal by referencing Barkley’s past indiscretions, each of which Barkley downplayed and joked about.
(“I threw a guy through a window. He deserved it,” Barkley told ESPN Radio in between triple-bogeys on Monday. “He threw a drink on me. Like I told the judge, we were on the first floor. I wish were on the third or fourth floor.”)
It made for good television Thursday night when Shaquille O’Neal somewhat angrily explained to Barkley how he made it personal with James.
“Chuck made it personal when said that LeBron didn’t want to compete,” O’Neal said.
.@SHAQ & @TheJetonTNT discuss LeBron James & Charles Barkley's recent comments… pic.twitter.com/33oFGuBLP5
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 3, 2017
That James felt the need to respond to Barkley speaks to the fact that players do care about and listen to his opinion. Notice you’ve never seen James mention one of Skip Bayless’ daily bashings. James even suggested more Barkley rants will come if Sir Charles keeps up his criticism.
“Do I take exception to it? Ernie [Johnson], I’ve done some stupid things in my life,” Barkley said. “I have to live with that. But when we are in our position, guys are going to come back at you. … I’ve done some stupid things in my life. That doesn’t make my argument less valid.”
As long as Barkley stays with TNT, it is difficult to see him relinquishing his spot as the most notable analyst in the sport. He has strong opinions that are backed up by his own Hall of Fame playing career. However, he gets more disconnected from this generation of players with each passing season, admitting during this week’s feud that he barely knows James personally. He has refused to accept that the Warriors’ pace-and-space style has taken over the NBA, even as the team won an NBA championship and set a record for the most regular-season wins.
By responding James only inflates Barkley’s importance and gives him an even larger platform to opine from.
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