The Los Angeles Lakers are on the brink of elimination, and Charles Barkley is already preparing his nails for the coffin.
The longtime TNT broadcaster, and soon-to-be ESPN broadcaster, had plenty to say about the Lakers on Wednesday during an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” two days after they fell behind 3-1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
To put it simply, Barkley wasn’t surprised. He also had some words for how his future employers at ESPN treat the team:
“The Lakers, I told you two months ago, six weeks ago, the Lakers aren’t a good team. They got two really, really good players, but not a good team. ESPN just swings on them like everything tastes like chicken, but the Lakers are not a good team. They’re going to lose either this round or next round, but more likely this round. They’re not very good.”
Asked to expand on the Lakers’ future with Luka Dončić and LeBron James, Barkley didn’t sound optimistic about the team’s current roster, which was assembled somewhat haphazardly via the trade that brought Dončić to Los Angeles.
Barkley took issue in particular with building around a player at James’ age, and with head coach JJ Redick’s decision to play the same five players for the entire second half in Game 4 on Sunday:
“The Lakers are not going to be a contender with the team they have now. Your best player can’t be 40. That makes no sense whatsoever. Your best player can’t be 40. And JJ was wrong the other night to play those guys the entire second half because, No. 1, it’s probably going to affect them tonight. It definitely affected them down the stretch the other night. Both of those guys missed lay-ups and they made some mental mistakes with the ball.
“This is not the Lakers’ year. And people think I hate on the Lakers. I told you. I said, ‘The Lakers aren’t a good team.’ But ESPN was just swinging on them like they were damn King Kong.”
The Lakers are certainly in an interesting spot despite benefiting from perhaps the most shocking trade in NBA history. Getting a 25-year-old All-NBA player like Dončić is a gift, but as the Dallas Mavericks showed, his presence alone doesn’t get the job done.
It’s worth remembering Los Angeles also tried to pair Dončić with a big man who fit his talents with the Mark Williams trade, but then the team spiked the deal after seeing the Charlotte Hornets center’s medicals. Jaxson Hayes, the team’s current starting center, played four minutes in Game 4, while Alex Len, the only other traditional big man on the roster, was a DNP.
As for the ESPN stuff, this isn’t the first time Barkley has hammered the network despite being set to join them for next season as part of an “Inside the NBA” licensing deal. Just last month, he was calling them “idiots” and “fools at the other network,” and this time he went out of his way to blast his future business partner.
Just as Patrick was preparing to change the subject, Barkley interjected with an additional point about how ESPN has covered Giannis Antetokounmpo’s future with the Milwaukee Bucks and contrasted it to the environment during his playing days:
“Dan, you know, the clowns at ESPN, they always make me laugh,” he told Patrick. “Dan, you know, I’m going to be a straight shooter. It’s interesting how they were discussing Giannis [Antetokounmpo] this week, like, ‘Should Giannis want to leave?’ I clearly don’t remember when I played, I don’t remember saying, ‘We need to get Charles Barkley some help in Philadelphia, or Phoenix, or Karl Malone in Utah. Patrick Ewing some help in New York.’ I remember the guys in the media kissing my ass and Karl’s ass, and Patrick’s ass. ‘Well, Giannis should want to leave Milwaukee now, because he can’t win the championship.’ I wonder where all the guys were when I played, asking me to get some help.
“I mean, they were kissing. They were like loving the Lakers, loving the Celtics, loving Michael [Jordan], loving the Pistons. But I don’t remember all these kiss-asses back in the day, saying, ‘You know, we need to get Charles Barkley some help, because he can’t win a championship in Philly or Phoenix.’ It makes me laugh. They’re like, ‘Giannis gotta leave Milwaukee.’ You know, that already started. Like, wow. Y’all more concerned about us other great players back in our day, but y’all of a sudden now y’all like, ‘Giannis has got to leave Milwaukee now. Is his championship window closed?’ I’m like, ‘Man, thanks for helping me out when I went out there with nobody.”
You have to figure ESPN knew this going in, but you can never expect Charles Barkley to speak with a filter.
