“Inappropriate,” Barkley said at the time. “Whiny. All of the above. The Cleveland Cavaliers, they have given him everything he wanted. They have the highest payroll in NBA history. He wanted J.R. Smith last summer, they paid him. He wanted (Iman) Shumpert last summer. They brought in Kyle Korver. He’s (LeBron) the best player in the world. Does he want all of the good players? He don’t want to compete? He is an amazing player. They’re the defending champs.” If this was a one time thing maybe this wouldn’t have been news but Sir Charles has made it his mission to go after Lebron in the past before and at some point Lebron had enough and finally spoke his mind:
“’m not going to let him disrespect my legacy like that. I’m not the one who threw somebody through a window. I never spit on a kid. I never had unpaid debt in Las Vegas. I never said, ‘I’m not a role model.’ I never showed up to All-Star weekend on Sunday because I was in Vegas all weekend partying.
“All I’ve done for my entire career is represent the NBA the right way. Fourteen years, never got in trouble. Respected the game. Print that.”
Barkley though isn’t backing down from his statement: ”
“I stick by what I said, I’m not going to make this personal… he was all whiny last week,” Barkley said. “… I’m good and I’m straightforward, I’m never going to get personal on an NBA player.”
Asked if he felt James crossed the line, Barkley said: “I was laughing, clearly he did some homework … he Googled me and found some things. He was young when I was playing, so I appreciate that, but I’m not upset about it … my criticism was fair and I’m good with that.”
I know he has a job to do but there is a point when he goes too far and maybe just maybe this was one time to many for Lebron …When is enough, enough ?
By the way this is the second time I have picked on Charles Barkley this week. I wonder if he is ok with me sticking by what I said both times …enough is enough.
Charles probably should’ve done some checking in with LBJ before he went and made himself the story- or at least a big part of the story. Thing is, James is usually pretty measured when it comes to what he says, so the responsible thing to do would’ve been for Barkley to do a LITTLE homework. I took LBJ’s rant as putting the pedal to the metal with Cavs ownership because he really really wants to beat the Warriors again.
Yet the perception is he ripped management…
I just get a kick out of how Charles talks as if he never whined about stuff . . oh, like wanting to be traded to a winner? lol
And how did that work for him? How many rings did he get in Phoenix and Houston? Yeah I thought so…zero!