Charles Barkley and LeBron James are embroiled in a war of words after Barkley told him to stop whining about the Cavs roster situation. James fired back at Barkley with as much vitriol as we’ve ever seen out of James, calling out Barkley for being a hypocrite, his past transgressions and his inability to quit even though he wants to because he needs the money.
Those comments were backed up by James’ friend and former teammate Dwyane Wade, who told reporters that it was about time James stuck up for himself when it comes to criticism from former players.
Barkley went on ESPN Radio on Tuesday afternoon to respond to James’ comments, and he insists that he doesn’t have a problem with James, but is simply doing his job.
Charles Barkley on ESPN Radio right now, calls LeBron "whiny" again but says he is not going to "get personal" the way he says LeBron did.
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) January 31, 2017
Barkley: "This notion that we have to be friends – we're never going to be friends."
Says the young generation "always takes it personally."— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) January 31, 2017
Charles Barkley on ESPN Chicago: "I'm just gonna keep doing what I do." Says he has no issue with LeBron.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 31, 2017
Barkley: "I'm not there to be friends with these guys. I'm there to do my job."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) January 31, 2017
The most interesting thing about all of this is that Barkley really wasn’t out of line with his comments about James on this occasion, but it seems like this has been a long time coming and James’ frustrations with being criticized by Barkley and others over the years, coupled with the Cavs recent 4-6 stretch, boiled over on Monday night.
The best part of Barkley’s conversation was that he forgot what research was, while discussing James bringing up all his past issues.
Barkley on LeBron comments: "What do they call it when people go on the Internet and find out things about you?"
— jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) January 31, 2017
Barkley and other former players often complain about changes to the game, and his comments about the current generation always being “sensitive” reflects his, and many others’, general feelings towards the current NBA. That’s fine, they have that right, but James’ frustration is understandable. He’s one of the all-time greats, too, and has never found himself in off-court trouble, but still feels as though he gets disrespected by Barkley and other legends of the game regularly.
