Charles Barkley criticized LeBron James for slamming his teammates to the press, and LeBron fired back pretty viciously.
However, Barkley says he’s not going to get personal and he prefers to just talk basketball.
CBS Sports writes:
“I have no problem with what LeBron said,” Barkley said on ESPN Chicago’s Waddle & Silvy radio show on Tuesday. “Some of it was true. I did pay my debt, that’s not true. I was never late to the All-Star Game, so that’s not true. But I don’t overreact, I’m not gonna say anything bad about him or get personal, I stick by what I said. He was all whiny and everything last week. If I’m going to be straightforward, like I always try to be, I know guys are going to come back at me sometimes. I’m good. He got personal but I’m never going to get personal on an NBA player. All of my criticisms or critiques are always just about basketball and I’m going to keep doing what I do.”
Barkley criticized James on “Inside the NBA” after the Cavs superstar openly complained about the team lacking a play-maker off the bench. James wants Cavs owner Dan Gilbert to open his wallet even wider than he already has and get another play-maker on the team so Cleveland can truly be in the right place to defend their championship. Barkley didn’t like how James was going through the media with his complaints, so he called James “whiny,” which is why the Cavs star sounded off.
Yet despite what was said, Barkley is sticking to his original comments and is choosing not to get personal like James said.
“Clearly, [James] Googled me and found out some things,” Barkley said. “I’m not going to get upset because somebody said something bad about me. I’m not like 12 years. My initial criticism was fair and I’m good with that.”
Throughout the interview, Barkley kept sticking by his “whiny” comment and reiterated why called James that.
“Some of those things he said about [me] were correct, but that doesn’t make my message incorrect,” Barkley said. “I thought he was really whiny and complaining the last couple of weeks, talking about you got no help. And I’m just like, ‘Dude you just won the championship, and it’s the middle of the season and you’re just bashing your teammates.’ I think that that wasn’t right.”
Charles has tough skin. It’s a requirement for c–ns.
#DEAD
lmao wtf too funny
Hollering!
LeBron does not like to be called out. So Charles knows he just has to take the L. But this right here is why a lot of journalists are afraid to criticize LeBron. They just kiss his a-s because the NBA has decided to make him the face of the league.
I still don’t know why LeBron did the absolute most. He knows he has the refs in his back pocket. There is now way they won’t make sure he beats the Warriors again. So he can stop whining now.
See how Charles didn’t get personal, even though he could have since LeBron took it there first? That’s what I was talking about yesterday. You don’t have to like Charles to admit that it was always about basketball to him. LeBron is the one who decided to make it personal and deflect because his feelings got hurt. He’s just not built to handle criticism and that’s a crying shame since he’s trying to be in the conversation about basketball greats.
LeBron needs to stop being a crybaby. Jordan and Kobe would never.