NBA star Charles Barkley was a foul magnet back in his playing days. In his 16-year career, playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and the Houston Rockets, he endured gruelling fouls in almost every single game. Yet, he almost never played fewer than 67 games in a season, especially with the Sixers. So, it’s natural he gets riled up seeing current 76ers players like Joel Embiid refusing to play back-to-back games.
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The physical torment which was inflicted on players by the opposition was much heavier in Barkley’s era. He couldn’t contain his distaste while talking about the current players’ load management strategies in the regular season. He took shots at Embiid’s new policy to never play back-to-back games, through he refrained from mentioning his name.
“What’s going to be the biggest problem going forward when we have guys making $80,90,100 million not playing back-to-back games…We can’t have a guy making $95 million saying I can’t play basketball four days a week,” Barkley said on the Dan Patrick Show.
“If anybody thinks that’s a good idea, they’re crazy…You don’t tell people you’re not gonna play back-to-back games. That’s just where the stupidity started,” he added.
Barkley reminded everyone that the NBA’s new media rights deal is expected to boost the earnings of the players further. Some may end up getting as high as $95 million a year. And if players still refuse to play at least three times a week, while getting paid over a million dollars per game, fans would not be a happy lot.
The salary spike Barkley was talking about may not happen soon. As things stand, Stephen Curry is the highest paid player this season, earning $51,414,938.
However, load management is something that should not be equated to a player’s salary. It has everything to do with a players’ injury history, like the case with Embiid. The 30-year-old center wants to be available in the postseason for his team and is willing to sit out a few regular season games to ensure that.
The concept of load management was popularized when Toronto Raptors implemented a plan for Kawhi Leonard in the 2018-19 season. Toronto’s experiment worked. They won an NBA championship, inspiring many others teams to chalk out similar plans for their stars.
Paul George, Embiid’s co-star at the 76ers, is expected to join the Cameroonian in a load management plan amidst his recovery from a hyper-extended knee.
Barkley isn’t the only NBA legend to share his distaste for Embiid’s decision about playing back-to-back matches. Hall-of-Fame forward Kevin Garnett was one of the first people to criticize Embiid’s decision.
Barkley has criticized Embiid before
This isn’t the first time that Barkley has criticized Embiid and his comments on load management. He dug into the center while talking on Inside The NBA alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson.
Barkley called out Embiid’s toughness by claiming that NBA players are “not steelworkers.,” exuding a passionate flurry of anger.
O’Neal threw shots at Embiid too, saying, “You can’t be afraid of injuries.”
It is also true that that load management may or may not ensure Embiid’s health for Philadelphia’s postseason push. Regardless of what the case would be, how Embiid’s season progresses will have serious implications on his career in the NBA going forward.
