Charles Barkley is one of the underrated trash talkers in NBA history. Chris Webber gives the Hall of Famer his props for his vocal mouth.
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There aren’t many ex-NBA players who can claim to live as satisfying a life as Charles Barkley is. The 16-year veteran retired in the year 2000 and was promptly hired by TNT as an analyst.
Chuck was comedic gold from the first minute that he went on the screen on national TV. His chemistry with Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith took the show to hitherto unseen levels of popularity and hilarity.
Over the years, Inside the NBA has become synonymous with sportscasting excellence. The way that Chuck manages to string comedic moments one after the another has been a staple on the show.
Also Read – Vince Carter applauds Muggsy Bogues’ defensive positioning while poking fun at his 5’3″ height
“Charles Barkley said ‘I scored 24000 points right here in this position'”: Chris Webber
The NBA announced that it will release a list of its 75 greatest players ever on the 2021 Draft Night. This sets up the possibility for TNT to do yet another mini-series like ‘Open Court’, which they did 10 years ago.
Open Court put together all of TNT’s best NBA stars on its roster and brought their experiences in the league to the forefront. One of the best segments on the series was about the greatest trash talkers of all time.
As Shaq and Chuck brought up the names of Gary Payton and Larry Bird, among others, Chris Webber found it to be the right moment to address Barkley’s own claim to fame:
“I’m playing with him on Washington, and it’s my stint with Washington. And he’s a little older, I think, he only had about 4 years left in his career, and I foul him.”
“I get away with it, come back down. And he’s going off at the ref – ‘He fouled me!’ And I’m like ‘I ain’t fouled him, he’s over there crying.’ He looked at the ref like ‘I’ve scored 24000 points right here in this position. You’re gonna tell me he ain’t fouled me?'”
“The referee was just shook, and I knew I was in trouble. The refs were intimidated by his talk. With a lot of guys (referees), it’s not about how your playing, it’s what you’re doing and saying.”
