One of the primary reasons we DVR’d Inside the NBA last night when the All-Star reserves were announced was to see Charles Barkley bug out about the selections. We were not disappointed. Chuck even got into it with Dwayne Wade‘s wife, Gabrielle Union, after he said Wade “shouldn’t have made the All-Star team.”
“Dwyane’s great, he’s a Hall of Famer,” said Barkley when discussing Wade’s inclusion as an Eastern Conference reserve. “But he didn’t deserve to make the All-Star team.”
Never mind the fact Wade might not play after suffering a hamstring injury with no timetable for his return, or that he was overtaken as an All-Star starter in the last two weeks after a rigorous social media campaign on behalf of Kyle Lowry.
Chuck gets paid handsomely to speak his mind, and that’s what he did when he said Wade “is not having an All-Star year.” This after mentioning snubs like Brandon Knight, who he felt deserved the nod more than Wade. He’s got a point, too, since Knight has kept the Bucks afloat since Jabari Parker went down and Milwaukee (23-22) has a better record than Miami (20-25).
After Chuck’s comments, Wade’s wife tweeted the below:
Forgive Charles. .. Kenny Smith is a 2x champion & his opinion is most sound… it's like me talkin bout Meryl Streep but I ain't won nuthin
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) January 30, 2015
TNT flashed the tweet across the screen and Chuck responded by attacking Union for her acting even while complimenting her beauty. Kenny felt it was out of order, but it was good television.
“We get paid to be honest,” Chuck intones, and that’s what he’s doing. Although the Snakes on a Plane quip was harsh, the whole thing was casual, and we doubt anyone really took offense, except the director of the aforementioned Snakes on a Plane.
There are way too many deserving players in the West (more on that later), but the dearth of deserving candidates in the East led to Miami’s duo of Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade getting in despite a losing record. Maybe Kyle Korver or Knight deserved the spot over Wade, and they might still get it if Wade can’t go, but the back and forth with Union is exactly the sort of thing we expected when we sat down to watch Barkley.
Who won the light-hearted war of words; Barkley or Union?
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