LeBron James will get the first overall pick in the inaugural NBA All-Star Game draft, winning that right by getting the most overall votes. James and Steph Curry were announced as the overall winners in the East and West on Thursday night, but a curious thing happened when the rest of the starters were announced.
Giannis Antetokounmpo got more votes from players than James in their portion of the voting. And though James is still the East’s captain, Charles Barkley took the opportunity to get a shot in at James on Thursday night.
Barkley said that James is a “drama queen” who gets on other players’ nerves, which is why he was somewhat snubbed by voters. Because of that, Barkley claimed, he was not surprised that James finished behind the Greek Freak here.
Charles Barkley called LeBron a drama queen … pic.twitter.com/5PHkhPfp4j
— Andrew Joseph (@AndyJ0seph) January 18, 2018
“I think the players like Greek Freak’s personality better,” Barkley said. “LeBron is a great player and a great guy, but he’s a drama queen.”
Maybe that’s why so many players essentially threw away their own votes by giving them to some less than worthy candidates. Or maybe this is just another case of Barkley saying something to get some headlines out of it. If that’s the case, mission accomplished. But it’s tough to read the NBA these days, so who knows if players are really as upset and frustrated with James as Chuck says.
