Good friends are known to push each other’s buttons. Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith know how to do it better than anyone. This time, the NBA legends gave each other some lip regarding their NCAA shortcomings. Where did they have their friendly riff-off? Why, during a live broadcast of the NBA on TNT, of course.
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Barkley is a proud Auburn University alum and played three seasons for the Tigers. Chuck even led the school to its first NCAA March Madness appearance in history, although they never went very far. Meanwhile, Smith attended the prestigious University of North Carolina and was named an All-American in 1987. Both men found much greater success in the NBA, but their college game was nothing to scoff at.
Still, that didn’t stop Kenny from shooting his shot and starting a friendly argument. “Did you ever win a game in the NCAA?” he asked Barkley. Without wasting a second Chuck fired back, “Did you ever get to a Final Four? You’re like the only North Carolina guy that never got to a Final Four.” Chuck wasn’t finished there either.
“Didn’t you play with Michael Jordan?” the 62-year-old asked. “Did you play with Michael Jordan?” he asked again, insinuating that Kenny’s NCAA resume should be a lot more impressive playing with the GOAT. Smith wasn’t going to take that one lying down, though. “You ain’t ever won a game in the tournament,” he said.
Both men shared a laugh moments after that last jab, an acknowledgement that their tiny tiff was over, and that they enjoyed themselves. Chuck may have made a good point about Smith playing with MJ, but it’s not as if Kenny didn’t know that.
Smith was a freshman for UNC when Jordan was a junior
The MJ that Kenny played alongside was still great, but far from the player he would inevitably become. Still, getting to share the court with Jordan was an exciting experience for him.
“We were all learning,” admitted Smith when speaking with StrictlyBBall a couple of months ago. “We were listening to coach Dean Smith more than anything else. We weren’t giving advice, we were receiving at the time.”
Jordan went off to do big things in the NBA, but Kenny saw his time in the spotlight as well. He was a two-time NBA Champion as a member of the Houston Rockets, playing second fiddle to Hakeem Olajuwon, and was on the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1988.
Kenny then went on to be a broadcaster for the most famous basketball program of all time. So when you think about it…he really won.
