Charles Barkley Lifts the Lid on His Straightforward Approach to Handling Failure

Inside the NBA has been the gold standard in sports TV for many years. Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal can always be counted on to provide basketball fans with analysis and laughs, and this season they’re taking their talents over to the Worldwide Leader in Sports.

Barely a few people were sure that the show would continue once the NBA’s deal with TNT expired, including the talent themselves. The last couple years felt like a farewell tour of sorts, but luckily we’re now only nine days away from welcoming the show back.

Barkley has always been at the heart of Inside the NBA, the biggest personality in a room full of them. He’s the engine that makes the show go because he will quite literally say whatever is on his mind, whether it’s good, bad or otherwise.

Staying true to his style, Barkley recently gave a wide-ranging talk at Rowan University as part of the school’s Speaker Series, and he shared some insight into what allows him the freedom to speak his mind and be himself.

“I say the same thing before every show,” he said. “I say, ‘Guys, we ain’t saving the f***** world, it’s just basketball.” This was in response to an audience member who asked if there was ever a time during his career that he felt like quitting, and how he pushed through it.

Oftentimes celebrities can come across as self-important and arrogant, but Barkley is the opposite, and it’s helped him thrive. He may appear emotional at times on air, but that’s all part of the show. He realizes that what he does is entertainment and isn’t life or death.

“No matter who you are,” he explained, “man, good stuff gonna happen and bad stuff gonna happen. It ain’t never gonna be great all the time, but it ain’t never gonna be bad all the time either.”

Barkley knows he’s in a privileged position and that so many people are worse off than he is. He’s seen it within his own family. He’s lost two brothers, one to drug addiction at 40 years old. He lost a former teammate earlier this year that was 10 years younger than he is.

“Somebody always got it worse than me,” he realized. “So I just keep grinding.” Now he’ll be grinding on ESPN beginning in just over a week. Many fans are worried that the change in networks will result in an Inside the NBA that’s somehow lesser or worse, but if we all have the same mindset as Barkley and realize that it’s just basketball, then we’ll all get through it together.