Slowly, the entire NBA is taking the bait.
It’s Charles Barkley vs. the league.
This is not all-star-level sparring. No one ever goes through the motions in this competition. It’s gloves off all the time, and that’s the best part about it.
They’re going full bore at the former star player who is now a TNT analyst. Like really going at him.
As if it all matters.
But it doesn’t.
Last week, Barkley’s sharp-tongued opinions bagged an executive and a player. That’s all-pro-level commentary.
He got the week started off right by getting pushback from his recent smack talk about analytics — and you know that’s a no-no in today’s NBA. Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey fired back through Twitter with the speed of the Flash and the fury of the Hulk.
Nuggets Mailbag:
Morey wrote: “Best part of being at a TNT game live is it is easy to avoid Charles spewing misinformed biased vitriol disguised as entertainment.”
Pow!
Unfazed, Barkley called him an idiot, teed up some more “this analytics stuff is for the birds” commentary and, in the process, became the most anticipated panelist in this weekend’s evolution of basketball analytics seminar during All-Star Weekend in New York.
Run the advance metrics on that.
But Barkley’s tornado-like impact wasn’t done. Not by a longshot.
On Friday, the media were finally able to catch up to Sacramento center DeMarcus Cousins to procure his thoughts concerning Barkley’s rant about the player being consulted before the hiring of new Kings coach George Karl.
In short, Barkley hated it.
Also in short, Cousins hated Barkley’s thoughts.
“It ain’t personal,” Cousins said. “I mean, I don’t really respect the guy, but at the same time, I don’t really care what he thinks, either.”
But, in fact, he does. And there is additional history of Barkley speaking out critically against Cousins, who like him is a star basketball player coming out of the state of Alabama. Cousins has been irritated at Barkley for a while now, and that’s understandable.
Still, the Chuckster knows his role on TNT: Spew out a few nails-on-the-chalkboard opinions on whatever, crack a joke, then exit stage left to applause and laughter. No one is better at it. His former superstar status gives him the stage, his personality takes over … and we all just watch.
But we should not participate.
Because, essentially, he’s just a lovable panda up there. No one gives credence to what a panda does. This is kind of like that. If Shaqtin’ A Fool had a media segment, he’d probably be the equivalent of JaV … well, we’ll just leave that alone.
You get the point.
But it all sure is entertaining.
So get your popcorn, watch and laugh. But, NBA, before your blood boils to the point of counteraction, it’s best to remember the famous line from the most recent Joker: “Why so serious?”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
