Charles Barkley Was Roasted For The Time He Missed A Game Because He Got Lotion In His Eye

Last week, the Thunder took a huge hit when Enes Kanter unleashed his fury (and frustrations) on a chair and fractured his forearm in the process. The team will reevaluate his status in four weeks, but one very trustworthy source has the big man missing 6-8 weeks. That got Ernie Johnson wondering what his Inside the NBA colleagues consider to be their most embarrassing injuries, and it should not surprise anyone that the result was Shaq and Kenny Smith making fun of Charles Barkley.

After all: death, taxes, and everyone laughing at Barkley.

And while the Round Mound of Trump Jokes has bigger things to worry about today, we still have to appreciate the sheer ridiculousness of his dumbest injury. Johnson set the scene by taking us back to opening night 1994, and we’ll let Chuck’s reaction tell us just how embarrassing this moment was:

“Uh oh.”

The short version: Barkley missed the very first game of the season because he got body lotion in his eyes during an Eric Clapton concert. Obviously, the guys had too much fun with this one, but it was pretty serious, according to this 1994 report from the New York Times:

An ophthalmologist ordered the forward to wear eye patches for 12 hours. Barkley traveled with the Suns to Sacramento for the opener, but Coach Paul Westphal said he would not play.

The incident took place Wednesday night. Barkley said his allergies and the bright stage lights caused him to rub his eyes, and he got lotion in both eyes.

“It was a chemical reaction to a type of lotion that he uses,” the team doctor, Richard Emerson, said. “I wouldn’t anticipate it’ll reoccur because I don’t think he’ll use that type again.”

Fortunately, we can laugh about it today, and Shaq especially deserves credit for not relying too heavily on the masturbation joke. He’s maturing by leaps and bounds.

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