Charles Barkley will join the ESPN stable of talent next season. He does not appear to be interested in making friends while he’s there.
The Hall-of-Famer laid into his future coworkers with a lengthy rant during “Inside the NBA” on Thursday, starting with a direct shot at Kendrick Perkins before broadening it to ESPN’s partiality to the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors, then brought up the LeBron James-Michael Jordan debate for good measure.
The impetus was Perkins saying the Lakers, with their trade for Luka Dončić and subsequent seven-game winning streak, were “saving the NBA.” Barkley begged to differ, noting the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder have been much better teams across the whole season.
He proceeded to refer to ESPN’s talent as “fools at the other network” and “idiots,” before conceding he and his “Inside the NBA” teammates are also going to become fools on the other network.
Charles Barkley GOES OFF about Lakers/Warriors coverage (and LeBron James/Michael Jordan debates) from “the fools on the other network (ESPN), which we’re going to be working for next year.” 🏀📺🎙️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥☠️ pic.twitter.com/0RyvL0H4ix
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 7, 2025
Here’s the two-minute rant in its full glory:
“I saw a fool, idiot on TV talking about the Lakers saving the NBA. He’s an idiot and a fool. We know he is. What’s his name, Shaq? Kendrick Perkins. He said the Lakers — first of all, the Lakers are having a great two weeks. He said the Lakers saved the NBA season. That’s because of them fools at the other network, which we’re going to be working at next year, that’s all they talk about.
“Let me tell y’all something. First of all, I want all the smoke. I don’t whistle when I walk by the graveyard or anything like that. The Lakers are doing great. Got a long way to go. But the reason the season’s been going great is the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Y’all just want to talk about the Warriors and the Lakers. They’re both doing great, don’t get me wrong. If I turn out to be wrong, I got no problem with that. But y’all are idiots cause y’all talk about the Lakers and the Warriors all the time.
“The Cleveland Cavaliers have won 12 straight games. Oklahoma City got the MVP and they are on fire. Y’all are talking about who’s in second place. That’s the reason I get pissed.
“Hey, the Lakers are doing great. I don’t mind being wrong. The Warriors are doing great, but that’s cause you fools on the other network, which we going to become fools next year because we’ll be working on that network, but Oklahoma City and the Cavs been balling for six months. Y’all talking about teams that had two great weeks.
Barkley went on to complain about ESPN talking “about the same stuff every single day” before taking aim at the Jordan-James debate:
“This lame-ass LeBron James-Michael Jordan debate. I’ve said it for years, the only people talking about LeBron and Michael is people on television who got no talent to talk about anything else. I been saying that for years. I ain’t hanging onto the 90s.”
Some at ESPN probably won’t like hearing that, but there might also be people who don’t mind Barkley embracing debate, even if it’s about the debate itself, before he makes the jump next season.
Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson are poised to bring “Inside the NBA,” perhaps the most beloved studio show in sports broadcasting, to ESPN next season as part of a licensing deal after TNT’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery lost its NBA rights.
The Lakers and Warriors have been of high interest since swinging their respective trades for Dončić and Jimmy Butler. Los Angeles is on a seven-game winning streak and now occupies second place in the West, while Golden State has moved out of the play-in zone and currently sits in sixth place. The Thunder and Cavaliers remain the top teams in their conference, as they have for most of the season.
