Charles Barkley calling out LeBron James for forming superteams is quite hypocritical considering the fact that he was a part of a few as well.
If there’s one argument that any LeBron James naysayers have loaded in their back-pocket to use against the 4x champ, it’s the fact that he’s always had a plethora of help. His first two rings with the Miami Heat were alongside Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, his 2016 title came after he was dealt Kevin Love and had Kyrie Irving, and his 2020 championship was with Anthony Davis.
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Context is always required when using this argument however as neither Dwyane Wade nor Chris Bosh were the superstars that they were years prior during their title runs. Wade peaked in 2009 while Bosh was dealt a steady decline on both ends. Other than the Heat teams, it would be foolish to argue that the 2016 Cavs or the 2020 Lakers were superteams.
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Regardless, Charles Barkley seems to believe that they were and called out LeBron James on it several times over. He did so in June of this year and has done so again by claiming he has Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan above him in all-time rankings for his tendency to team up with superstars.
Charles Barkley’s comments on LeBron James are quite hypocritical.
Due to the recency of the Phoenix Suns making the NBA Finals this season, many NBA fans were take back 28 years to the time when Charles Barkley led the Suns to the Finals against Michael Jordan. His stint in Phoenix is what he’s most remembered for but many forget that he was also a Sixer and a Rocket.
Unlike LeBron James, Charles Barkley was drafted to a team that had multiple Hall-of-Famers on it. Julius Erving and Moses Malone were still All-NBA caliber players when Chuck came on board and yet, it yielded little to no postseason success.
Following his years with the Phoenix Suns, Charles Barkley forced his way to the Houston Rockets to team up with Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon. The closest this trio would get to sniffing a title would be a Western Conference Finals beatdown at the hands of the Utah Jazz.
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Sure, applying context to his Rockets stint would be fair as well as neither Hakeem nor Clyde were in their primes during their time with the ‘Round Mound of Rebound’. This doesn’t take away from the fact that the trio averaged a combined 60 points during the 1997 season while all shooting over 50% from the field.
It’s safe to say that LeBron James wasn’t the only superstar who looked elsewhere for help when it came to capturing a title. Only, James followed through on winning one while Barkley did not.
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