Charles Barkley makes for must-watch television even when he isn’t on set. During TNT’s broadcast of Monday night’s slate of NBA games, Adam Lefkoe decided to Facetime Barkley.
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Before every game, one of the panel members creates a parlay as a part of a FanDuel sponsor. Lefkoe’s parlay for the Celtics-Grizzlies matchup ended up winning. He decided to celebrate by gloating at Barkley, since the Hall-of-Fame forward has yet to hit on a parlay this season. Unfortunately, the plan blew up in his face.
The Big Podcast co-host was made to instantly regret his decision. Once Barkley answered the phone, Lefkoe made it clear that they were on live television. Barkley then clouded the audio with profanities, forcing Lefkoe to cut the conversation short in a hurry.
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On Wednesday afternoon, Lefkoe joined The Dan Patrick Show to discuss the viral moment. During his explanation, he revealed Barkley had planned for their conversation to go exactly the way it did. It was all premeditated.
“He picked it up and I knew I was in trouble, Dan, when he had his clear glasses and they were toward the edge of his nose,” Lefkoe explained. Once they went on commercial break, Lefkoe called Barkley again to gain clarity on his actions. Barkley hilariously admitted to screwing Lefkoe over.
“He was like, ‘Oh, I’m out with the fellas. We were watching you and I saw you FaceTime me,'” Lefkoe said. “I was like, ‘You knew and you still tried to end my life?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah.'”
Barkley should continue
Such is the nature of their camaraderie that Lefkoe wishes that TNT will continue with the iconic Inside the NBA show beyond the ongoing season, which is set to be its last. Barkley is also set to retire from broadcasting. In fact, last year, Alex Houvouras, the man who has been photoshopping Barkley’s head for many years, also lost his job, which made Lefkoe emotional.
Lefkoe feels Barkley is the life of the show and said in an interview with CinemaBlend –
“I also think it’s going to be very interesting to have one last year with Charles Barkley with an open mic, if that happens. I had hoped there was going to be a fourth smaller package. I hope that they can match, but this sounds way above my pay grade on a lot of forms.”
Coming back to the current ‘goofup’, while the set was filled with laughs, the show’s management was certainly not happy. Lefkoe learned the hard way to not interfere when Barkley during his gambling sessions. The 1993 MVP has made it loud and clear how he feels regarding gambling.
Winning (and losing) $1 million in a day
One thing Barkley has partaken in over the years is gambling. He is a big fan of playing cards and different games especially when there is money on the line. Despite how much money he loses, it doesn’t deter him from gambling.
In 2016, Barkley sat down for an interview on In Depth with Graham Bensinger. During his conversation, he opened up about the amount of times he has lost at least $1 million in a single day.
“At least 10-15 [times], somewhere in there,” Barkley admitted. On the other hand, the Suns legend revealed, “I only won a million five or six times.” While most gamblers would stop when they had more losses than wins, it doesn’t stop Barkley’s love for gambling.
It makes sense he reacted in that fashion to Lefkoe considering he lost not just the parlay, but every single one he has set up as part of the show. Barkley is extremely competitive and will find a way to make his opponent lose even if he isn’t the winner.
