Concurrent with the settlement of a lawsuit filed by Warner Bros. Discovery against the National Basketball Association, the media conglomerate reached a deal with The Walt Disney Company to sublicense its award-winning Inside the NBA studio program to ESPN and ABC beginning next season. Charles Barkley, who has been a studio analyst for TNT Sports since 2000, has been candid in delivering his thoughts on the matter, frequently appearing on the Dan Patrick Show and recently divulging that he learned about the deal from ESPN employees welcoming him to the network. Barkley also indicated that he and his colleagues were taping the pilot for a new show with TNT Sports, although he was not sure exactly what they would be doing.
Barkley appeared on the Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday morning and was asked about the Los Angeles Lakers to begin the interview. The team is currently one loss away from being eliminated, which would conclude the first season featuring the star duo of forward LeBron James and guard Luka Dončić. Upon mentioning how he did not evince the Lakers being good six weeks ago, Barkley mentioned ESPN and how the company talks about the franchise.
“This is not the Lakers’ year, and people think I [am] hating on the Lakers,” said Barkley. “I told you, I said, ‘Lakers aren’t a good team,’ but ESPN was just swinging on them like they were damn King Kong.”
Patrick followed up later in the interview by asking if Dončić would want to stay with the Lakers, to which Barkley answered that he would probably be there for the rest of his career. Barkley then brought up the network for a third time, saying, “The clowns at ESPN, they always make me laugh.” Patrick clarified with Barkley that he was going to be working there in six weeks, ostensibly surprised by the irony of the situation.
“Dan, you know I’m going to be a straight shooter,” Barkley replied. “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 some help in Utah, Patrick Ewing some help in New York,’ and I remember guys in the media kissing my a** and Karl’s a** and Patrick’s a** like, ‘Well, Giannis should want to leave Milwaukee now because he can’t win the championship.’”
Barkley pointed out how in the stretch when he was playing, there was love for the Chicago Bulls guard and six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan, along with various other teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons. Yet he did not remember people affirming that Barkley needed help because of presumed inability to win the championship with the Philadelphia 76ers or Phoenix Suns.
“They’re like, ‘No, Giannis has got to leave Milwaukee,’” Barkley said. “That already started – like, ‘Wow.’ Y’all weren’t concerned about us other great players back in our day, but y’all all of a sudden now, y’all like, ‘Oh, 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.’”
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