Charles Barkley made his first televised comments about his so-called beef with LeBron James stemming from comments made during Monday’s TNT broadcast.
James had enough of his talk and aired a bunch of Barkley’s past dirty laundry, questioning the former player’s credibility and saying he’s been nothing but a role model throughout his 14 years in the league.
Barkley followed the same day by going on ESPN Radio and explaining the root of his comments were purely from an analytical standpoint and not an attack on his persona.
“I had no problem with what LeBron said. Everything is not true, but some of it is true,” Barkley said. “I’ve done some stupid things in my life. That being said, I have never said anything personal about a guy and I’m never going to. Ever.”
“All my criticism on any player or comments on any team are strictly about basketball. What I said was, if I’m the best player in the world — which he is — he has Kyrie Irving who’s an All-Star, he has Kevin Love who’s an All-Star, they have Tristan Thompson who is a terrific player — I’d take my chances against anybody.”
Barkley once again insisted there’s no beef to be squashed because there was no friendship to begin with, claiming he’s not “12 (years old)” and he is not going to “go back” at King James, because his criticism was a base of analysis and not a personal attack.
“I’ve made some stupid mistakes in my life, that does not make my argument any less valid,” he said. “We can criticize guys. Our job is not to go on TV and say 100 percent positive things about guys if we think they’re wrong. That’s not our job.”
If Chuck sees LeBron at #NBAAllStar?
…"I'll shake his hand. I have no animosity towards LeBron." pic.twitter.com/4oAtYzHnHE
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 3, 2017