Charles Barkley‘s job for a long time was to get rebounds and score. He was damn good at it, and it landed the one-time Dream Teamer and NBA MVP in the Hall of Fame (see below). Now Barkley’s job is to stir things up, get laughs at the same pace he got rebounds, and give occasionally insightful analysis about today’s NBA. That means he’s got to talk about LeBron James and guess what? LeBron is tired of Barkley’s criticism. Barkley says James should be satisfied with what Cleveland has given him — the players, the coach he wanted, the money, etc. But James’ take is the exact opposite: he isn’t satisfied, and he doesn’t want the Cavaliers to be satisfied either.
4-time MVP James was already winning the argument with Barkley without even responding, as most of the time James just acknowledged that Barkley is supposed to get TV ratings. But this week James changed his deal, driving his victory home and saying he’s sick of Barkley’s criticism. What right, James wants to know, does Barkley have to knock him? After listing some of Barkley’s less glorious moments (like the time he spit on a kid), James differentiated himself with this comprehensive statement, telling ESPN:
