NBA Legend Says the One Thing He Hates About a Four-Time NBA MVP
In the past, Lebron James and Charles Barkley have had their fair share of criticism of each other. Charles Barkley is one of the greatest players of all time and a rebounder as well, so his say goes a long way. Recently, Barkley was on the Bill Simmons podcast, and he said the one thing he hated about LeBron. It came after discussing one of the bigger changes in the NBA in the last few years, the introduction of the new salary cap. Barkley had more of an issue with what LeBron did because he set the standard for the rule, rather than LeBron himself as a person. “Why did they have to come up with these BS rules, Bill? Because all these guys want to play together and not compete. How many great players do we need in one team? said Barkley. Barkley blamed the joining of superstars like LeBron joining the Miami Heat in 2010 and Kevin Durant joining the Warriors as the main culprits for the introduction of the second hard cap.
Barkley is right in his argument, but also some blame needs to be directed towards the actual league for letting that happen as well. The fact that most people associate the origin of teaming up in 2010 and nothing was done until 2023 is lackadaisical. Even then, the rule just makes it more challenging, but not impossible. If superstar players are willing to take pay cuts, then the alignment of superstars can still happen. Richard Jefferson, known to be very close to LeBron, defended him from the comments. Asking the question, didn't you have superstar teammates as well?
Now, while actual context is always key and Barkley has talked about it before, his teammates weren't in their prime anymore each time he had them, unlike Lebron and Durant's situation. Barkley is who he is, brutally honest at times, right at times wrong with it. This time, he is right because it's not only what most sports media say, but also what most fans say. Despite this, Barkley has no serious issue with LeBron; he has now and for a long time considered him one of the greatest, right up there with Michael Jordan. It'll be interesting to see if LeBron responds to these comments at all.
