The best sports show on the airwaves returns to its glory this month as the 75th NBA season gets started. So while Russell Westbrook, Joel Embiid, Steph Curry and Giannis get ready to ball down, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson are getting ready too — that’s right, The NBA on TNT is back!
Part of the show’s enduring charm is the always ebullient Barkley — and his willingness to try and do anything. (Even kiss a donkey, but that’s another story.) Here Chuck gets ready for basketball by trying hockey — and, yes, he was much better at protecting the hoop than he is at protecting the hockey goal. He does, kinda, stop one of these five shots.
Maybe Chuck isn’t as effective as he might be because he doesn’t put on the pads. Or maybe it’s just because the Hall of Famer isn’t carrying around so much personal padding as in the past. “Chuck looks skinnier,” says one commenter? And another comment, “Charles would catch it if it were a donut,” seems off the mark for the svelte Chuck. Though surely true in the past!
If that’s a familiar looking shot zooming past Charles, that’s because it’s coming off the stick of the GOAT, Wayne Gretzky himself. Some fans naturally want Gretzky on the basketball court next, one-on-one with Charles?
Here’s a taste of Chuck at work, where he also can’t stop what’s coming at him! Let’s go and get this NBA season started already.
