LeBron James turned back the clock with his electrifying jam over Dereck Lively II on Tuesday night. However, Charles Barkley didn’t want to hype up the play too much, given that it came on a losing effort against the short-handed Dallas Mavericks.
Advertisement
He blamed the Lakers’ lack of depth for holding them back in the game and even referred to the team’s role players as “bums” during the post-game coverage. Kendrick Perkins didn’t take kindly to Barkley’s comments and he recently responded to the TNT analyst via his social media.
“Here’s the problem that I have with Chuck,” Perkins began. “When he’s talking about the Lakers, says ‘Yes, you got Bron and AD and then you got the rest of them bums.’ That s**t right there pissed me off.”
“There’s no player in the f***ing league that deserves to be called a bum. Like, you make it to this level for a reason and when you’re talking and you have a platform like that, you shouldn’t be disrespecting players…I’m standing with JJ on this,” the ESPN analyst added.
I said what I said & I mean what I said …. #Carryon
Brand NEW Episode w/ the @roadtrippin crew OUT NOW! pic.twitter.com/JsYr383iz3
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) January 10, 2025
Charles has always been forthcoming about his distaste for the extensive coverage surrounding the Lakers. However, his recent takes on the team have flip-flopped a little. He initially called out the Purple and Gold for dodging accountability over the past few seasons, pointing to the firing of Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham along with the scapegoating of D’Angelo Russell.
However, it was uncharacteristic for the 61-year-old to target his ire at the role players and as Perkins said, it was rather unnecessary to call them ‘bums’. Fans believe that Barkley is just angry after being called out by the Lakers’ head coach, JJ Redick.
In late December, Redick touched on the NBA’s viewership decline and shared his perspective on the causes behind the same.
“I don’t think we as — and by we, I was part of it — we as the sort of national partners have done a good job of storytelling, of celebrating the game,” the head coach said. “If I’m a casual fan and you tell me every time I turn on the television that the product sucks, well I’m not going to watch the product.”
Redick was alluding to the old-head misnomer that NBA ratings have fallen due to the advent of the three-pointer. As a former sharpshooter himself, JJ argued that spacing can actually create more rim attempts as it opens up lanes for attackers. He believed that it was the game’s legends whose resistance to change was painting an unfair narrative of modern offenses.
Legends like Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal often refer to the homogenization of the game and how every team seems to be playing for open threes. However, according to JJ, their largely negative commentary is disincentivizing viewership, especially for the casual fan.
Though Redick didn’t directly name Barkley in his statement, Chuck understood that his comments were targeted at him and his colleagues. That could be the reason behind Chuck’s sudden frustration with the Lakers’ role players.
